The more America sees and gets to know Vice President Kamala Harris, the more America will see what President Biden saw when he chose her as his running mate: that she can handle it.
Opinion columnist
Granderson Landing Station
LZ Granderson writes about culture, politics, sports, and navigating life in America.
And I don’t just mean the campaign schedule, or winning the nomination, or getting the job done. I mean what he’ll have to endure as a “first timer.” Biden saw what it’s like up close, having campaigned and served two terms alongside Barack Obama. Does he need a refresher on the racial ugliness revealed by the presidential candidacy of a black man beginning in 2008? The misogyny that reared its head when Hillary Clinton was the Democratic nominee in 2016? He shouldn’t, because that racist and sexist ugliness isn’t even history; it’s the face of the Republican presidential ticket in 2024.
No president has it easy. Few have it even right. But the weight of the presidency wasn’t all Obama bore, and what Biden said in endorsing Harris for president this week is that she is strong enough to bear that extra weight.
If elected, she would be the first woman president, the first black woman president, the first person of South Asian or Jamaican descent president, the first president to have an interracial marriage, and the first president whose spouse is Jewish.
Biden’s endorsement was poignant not only because he said she could take on those positions, but also because he was going through something similar to what she endured in 2020. When she first ran for president, her campaign was one of the first to shut down. Many are quick to remember that part. Fewer people credit Harris for having the strength to run as a Black woman in America in the first place.
“Some people might think that breaking barriers means you start on one side of the barrier and then you come out on the other side of the barrier… no,” Harris told journalist Jemele Hill in 2019. “You have to break things, and when you break things, it hurts. You get hurt. You can get cut and you can bleed.
“It will be worth it, but it will not be without pain.”
This isn't about voters feeling sorry for her. Quite the opposite. She's reminding them that she's tougher than many of us could ever imagine. It must be a pretty strange existence to now be seen as the backbone of a major party, and yet be doubly dismissed on the grounds of race and gender.
Malcolm X noted 60 years ago that “the most disrespected person in America is the black woman,” and judging by the racism and sexism that erupted the moment Biden announced he was stepping down, much of that remains true today. His ability to win against former President Trump is questioned by sports personalities who struggle to predict winners in their own field. His intellect is in question despite a brilliant career: Trump He called her “dumb as a rock” on Mondayechoing last month's message. Newt Gingrich's transparently false and racist attack line.
The journey you undertake can be lonely. To be first is to be alone.
Of course, she won't be alone. She has family, friends and advisors at her side. Millions of supporters already adore her: voters and volunteers who are ready to support her, donors who in the first 24 hours of her candidacy broke fundraising records with $81–Flood of a million.
But the weight of being the “first” is something she alone must bear. Just as Clinton had to fight to get voters to even imagine a woman as a possible president, conservatives were quick to call Harris a “DEI candidate” — because it’s a euphemism for the word they wish they could say.
Biden, who knows her well and knows what is at stake, tells us that she can handle it all: the campaign, the job, the weight.
Throughout her impressive career, Harris has always been in the spotlight for being the first person like her to hold many of those jobs. She exceeded expectations because she took her mother's instructions to heart: don't be the first person like you to hold that job; make sure you're not the last.
Harris is no stranger to ridiculous, unfounded insults (“uneducated and uneducated”) and equally insulting expectations (“Can she win against Trump?”). She has heard two decades of similar voices on her path to history and has never let them stop her.
That’s not to say the next few weeks should be some kind of coronation for her. Harris still needs to answer the same questions about the economy, the border and administration decisions that Biden would. She also needs to communicate a vision for the future — one that speaks to young voters who care about climate change and affordable housing. Reproductive rights are a major concern. The next president needs to lead the nation in regulating artificial intelligence. What are we going to do about affordable child care? And make sure this aging nation is prepared for the rising cost of elder care?
The weight that weighs on the president is enormous. Incredibly enormous.
And Harris would take on an extra burden of responsibility that no man or white person would have. We won't necessarily see it. She won't talk about it or get credit for it. Not that it matters. She proved long ago that she can handle anything.
