It seems like an eternity ago when the Democrats subbed out current President Biden with Vice President Harris as their nominee. The notion that a major party could nominate somebody without having to go through primaries seemed unthinkable up until that point.
But underneath this change was another point that in some respects has been overlooked. It wasn’t simply a case of those that called it anti-democratic or an insult to voters were inherently wrong, but they missed one point that sits in some respects as a bigger issue.
Increasingly most Progressive parties tend to view images being more important than the substance that they typically put up. Rarely do they run on issues because they understand that it’s difficult for them to win voters to their side on that front. Instead presenting what they consider to be the perfect image of what woke policy is supposed to encapsulate is far more important.
Kamala Harris was never so much a candidate as most people think of one as she was the image of something that the progressive wing of the democratic party wanted to project. On that front it was always more a case of presenting a facade rather than having any substance.
It’s probably better to view Kamala Harris as more of an idea than a person. For those that are trying to understand her campaign which is based largely on staying out of sight, not saying anything, it’s a helpful starting point. From a strategic sense it’s fairly obvious that they are hoping that there was enough of a bump in the polls when she was first swapped in for Joe Biden that it gave them sufficient momentum. The hope that there are enough fumes to make it to the end seems unlikely, but it doesn’t mitigate the more important point of her candidacy itself.
Putting that entire bump in the polls was constructed on the idea that they could give enough of a vibe in that moment that it would capture the imagination. One should remember at no time when she was introduced as the new candidate did she give any substantive proposals in her launch speech. Most candidates usually tell everybody what they’re running for when they first announce.
Many have called her a DEI hire or the embodiment of what affirmative action has produced. She does project the image of what most progressives would like to think the ideal leader is. The first female president. Another black president. The defender of minorities. From the endless meaningless cliches meant to make people smile and have no real meaning to them she projects more of a poster than a person.
Of course one of the problems they’ve had is that trying to separate someone who projects the proper image from the actual policies that typically represents has always been more of a struggle.
One need only to look to Oregon or California and recognize most left-wing ideas end up turning into disasters. Campaigning on issues like legal drugs, open borders, and increased homelessness doesn’t tend to get a stampede of voters to your side. Even those that are bold enough to try and campaign on these issues usually find it being something of an uphill struggle. As a general point progressive ideas are not popular.
Using feel-good images is supposed to overcome the policy deficiency.
Her abbreviated run for the presidency in 2020 is one of the best examples her ability as a politician has never been particularly great. She’s the product of not just California but like most Senators coming out of a state that is safe for their party their gaps are frequently overlooked quickly.
It was the issue that hard policies produced that gave rise to the idea that if you could simply give an image that gave the left what it wanted that would be enough. What is starting to transpire is the problem that when there’s no substance behind that image it eventually breaks down. Another way to look at this in the election cycle has been the slow downward trajectory of the Kamala Harris campaign. The image only really lasted for a few weeks.
That being said, don’t expect Harris to be the last one to try and be branded this way. The attempt to try and brand a politician as being hopeful without having to deal with exactly how they’re going to do it or get into their policy specifics has become the common playbook for so many on the left.
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