While the Olympic Games begin in Paris in a few days, the Washington “Games” began on Sunday.
A week in politics is an eternity. And now, after seven days of twists and turns worthy of a scripted reality show, President Joe Biden has dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed his running mate, Kamala Harris. He’s not alone. From bigwigs like the Clintons to the influential Congressional Black Caucus and even a pro-Nikki Haley coalition on the Republican side, many have thrown their support behind Ms.me Harris. As a certain Donald Trump had also done, with thousands of dollars, in 2011 and 2015, when Kamala Harris was a candidate for the post of attorney general of California.
But of all the support received since President Biden’s withdrawal, the most remarkable – so far – seems to me to be that reported by the financing platform ActBlue.
As of 9 p.m. Sunday, just hours after Kamala Harris announced her entry into the presidential race, the new candidate had raised at least $46.7 million.
It’s not the opinions posted on social media, nor those of political pundits, nor those of Hollywood’s rich that really matter. Those who move campaigns are the voters. Especially the supporters who support candidates one small donation at a time. Since Sunday, we’ve seen the return of what has been sorely lacking on the Democratic side since the beginning of this campaign: enthusiasm.
But even an optimist like me knows that all this fervor will not protect Mme Harris from the most virulent attacks. No presidential candidate has been spared. But it is perhaps the most underhanded criticism that we will have to watch out for. Portraits of the candidate – as in the past – that will insist on the fact that she has no children and that she married late. Others, as we have also already seen, who will call her only by her first name.
Unless you were part of her entourage or went to school with her – notably at Westmount High School in Montreal in the 1980s – we will have to respectfully call her M.me Harris, not just Kamala.
Kamala Harris has been judged differently and more scathingly as vice president than her predecessors. “But we don’t see her! We don’t hear her!”, said several. And yet. She notably made a colossal tour of the African continent, to meet with the leaders of the most emerging countries. And those of Latin American countries, to talk about immigration – a priority issue in the United States. Thanks to the policies of her administration, she has also promoted financing for affordable housing. Mme Harris launched the Justice is Coming Home campaign, which focuses on veterans’ mental health. In short, she’s been busy — even if none of it seems to have made headlines.
Woman and black, Mme Harris has often been a first. Now, following in the footsteps of Hillary Clinton and Shirley Chisholm—who in 1972 became the first black woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination—she is closer than ever to the presidency of the United States, having been within a heartbeat of the office since 2020.
The Democratic Party and those who vote for it have often had the courage and the flair to trust the next generation. A bet that has paid off, from John F. Kennedy in the 1960s to Bill Clinton nearly 30 years later, then to Barack Obama in 2008. Joe Biden, himself a young leading man, had prepared us for it by saying that he would be a transitional president. Faced with his stubbornness since the catastrophic debate on June 27, a group called Pass the Torch recently created and aired an effective ad calling on President Biden to pass the torch, adding its voice to the chorus of members of the Democratic Party who were demanding the same thing.
There it’s done.
From now on, Kamala Harris will have to adjust her posture to move from a certain shadow to the brightest of lights. But we, too, will have to adjust.
I don’t know what will happen in the next few weeks, but I’m happy to be able to witness it. What a time to be alive », as the saying goes.
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