politico | Kamala Harris launched her first presidential campaign five years ago to great expectations. She had a growing profile as a no-nonsense interrogator in the Senate, heavyweight support from Hollywood to Wall Street and the raw talent of a once-in-a-generation leader.
Harris’ admirers — not to mention aides and members of her inner circle — detest the mere thought of that painful time. She’s been vice president for four years, they say, standing in for President Joe Biden around the world and becoming the party’s preeminent voice on abortion rights. She’s confident, they contend, and battle-tested. The Kamala Harris of 2024 is light-years better than the Harris of 2019.But the searing experience remains an indelible stain on her image, even after the 59-year-old Democrat spent the last half-decade steadily improving on the biggest stage imaginable.
Her near-perfect introduction as the Democrats’ standard-bearer is a testament to the hard work she’s put in. But Harris has never dealt with an opponent as ferocious as former President Donald Trump. He’ll seize on any perceived weakness and attack every vulnerability.
That means she needs to figure out how to neutralize her exposure on the border and immigration. Harris will need a crisp answer when talking about stubbornly high inflation. She must stem the slow-rolling erosion of the Democratic coalition that occurred on Biden’s watch and energize young voters, Latinos and other voters of color while holding Biden’s white working-class support across the industrial Midwestern battleground states. As a woman of color, she has to worry about calibrating her approach in ways that may seem unfair, and, at times, limiting. She has a momentous decision to make — her own vice presidential pick — and very little time to make it. In short, there is no margin for the kind of errors that plagued her first presidential bid.
This is amazing 😂
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 26, 2024
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