You know the truly weird thing about this presidential campaign?
Weirder than childless cat ladies.
Weirder than you’ll never have to vote again, “my beautiful Christians.”
Weirder than “White Dudes for Harris.”
I mean, even weirder than the fact that, thanks to a former social studies teacher turned politician, the word “weird” has become a political term of art among Democrats? I guess it’s better than “far out.”
It’s clear to me the absolutely strangest thing — not counting, of course, the horrific assassination attempt, which belongs in an entirely different category — is how Kamala Harris has turned into an overnight sensation, at least among Democrats.
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Think about it. Think about how you thought about Harris, say, a month ago, if you thought about her at all.
Think about how Democrats who were pushing Joe Biden to step aside after his disastrous debate performance were busily throwing out every possible non-Kamala name as a potential successor because of Harris’ perceived weakness.
Think about the conventional wisdom that Harris had been a failed presidential candidate, and, at best, a so-so vice president who presented Republicans with a ready-made target for mockery and worse.
Now think about where we are, and where she is, today.
It’s not just that Harris has pulled even with Donald Trump in the polls in the few days since Biden dropped out and she quickly became the presumptive Democratic nominee, although Nate Silver says she still trails in his Electoral College model.
Or that her polling positives, stuck in the mid-30s for most of her vice presidency, have surged into the mid-40s and, in some polls, even slightly higher.
The fact is that Harris is not simply being welcomed by Democrats as a necessary or logical replacement for Biden, but actually embraced, even celebrated. Certainly cheered at every turn. OK, not exactly Simone Biles-level embraced, celebrated and cheered, but still.
Yeah, weird. And there’s no telling how long her sudden popularity will last or how well it survives the first inevitable major campaign screwup. There’s no telling how it will hold up under the barrage of negative ads, like this one.
Before we might guess at its possible staying power, though, the phenomenon needs to be understood. The easy and obvious explanation is that Democrats were desperate for something new. Anything new. As we know, Democrats had been more than nervous about the campaign before the June 27 debate. Afterwards, the mood ranged somewhere between miserable and inconsolable.
It could be that virtually any semi-viable candidate would have roused Democratic passions in much the same way.
Another explanation, just as easy and just as obvious, is that the creepy misogyny and racism with which many MAGA types greeted Harris was met with a ferocious backlash.
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The idea of publicly calling out Harris as a DEI hire — yes, the expected diversity, equity and inclusion dog whistle — was quickly shut down by Republicans like House Speaker Mike Johnson, not just because it was idiotic, but because it was so obviously beyond dog-whistling racist.
And the expected misogyny — a Trumpian calling card — was reinforced by the revelation of J.D. Vance’s “miserable childless cat lady” remarks to Tucker Carlson about Harris and other Democrats, not to mention the rest of Vance’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” vibe. Although Vance has defended his “cat lady” description as obviously sarcastic, it turns out he has repeatedly used other descriptions for childless Democratic politicians, with his apparent favorite being “sociopathic.”
Surprisingly, this has offended many women who, like Harris, are part of blended families, not to mention all the women who haven’t yet had children or don’t plan to have children and who have never had children. It probably, just guessing here, has even offended some men.
Or maybe the explanation includes the notion that Harris’ diverse background — to the surprise of some MAGA types — may actually be a plus, particularly for those younger voters who had been turning away from Biden and may be attracted by the not-another-old-white-guy candidate. Polling so far shows that the double-haters — those who didn’t like Trump or Biden — seem to be leaning to Harris.
And then there is the timing. In 2020, when she ran for president, her background as a tough prosecutor was hardly a recommendation in progressive Democratic circles. This time, she is the necessary tough former prosecutor when Democrats are endlessly frustrated by the fact that Trump’s many indictments apparently boosted his standing.
Here’s Harris to remind voters that Trump is a convicted felon, just like the type of felon she used to put behind bars.
In any case, history tells us this is just a moment. These things don’t last forever. Ask Barack Obama. But the near term looks encouraging for Harris. She has announced she will campaign next week with her as-yet-unnamed vice-presidential choice. In most non-cat-lady cases, a vice-presidential pick comes with some positive press.
Next on her schedule is the Democratic National Convention, at which time Democrats may, with luck, be able to stick to a unity theme all the way through Harris’ acceptance speech. Of course, the pro-Palestinian demonstrators coming to Chicago may test that unity.
Maybe the best way to look at this is through the lens of the “White Dudes for Harris” fundraising Zoom call. There had already been similar calls from groups, according to a running count by the Associated Press, including Black women, Hispanic women, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Black men and the LGBTQ+ community.
And because Democrats are just that giddy over the new state of the presidential race, somebody thought a self-mocking “White Dudes for Harris” could be a thing. And so it was. With nearly 200,000 people on a three-hour call, a total of $3.7 million was raised from a, uh, diverse crowd described by former “West Wing” actor Bradley Whitford as “a rainbow of beige.”
On the call, of course, was The Dude himself, Jeff Bridges of “The Big Lebowski” fame, who explained why he was on the call: “I’m white, I’m the Dude, and I’m for Harris.”
Do you need any more explanation?
If so, Bridges offered up this one: “As the Dude might say, ‘That’s just my opinion, man.’”
Of course, your opinion may vary. Mine is that in a race this weird, the best bet — maybe the only safe bet — is that it will inevitably get even stranger. But for those suddenly excited by the prospect that the campaign is competitive again, that doesn’t seem so scary at all.
Mike Littwin has been a columnist for too many years to count. He has covered Dr. J, four presidential inaugurations, six national conventions and countless brain-numbing speeches in the New Hampshire and Iowa snow. Sign up for Mike’s newsletter.
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