Barack Obama got blunt in Pittsburgh last week. He chided Black men who are not supporting Kamala Harris, saying that some of “the brothers” were just not “feeling the idea of having a woman as president.” That left me mulling again: Is Harris in a dead-even race against a ridiculous person because of her sex or is that just an excuse?

Hillary Clinton did not lose because she was a woman. She lost because she was Hillary Clinton. She didn’t campaign hard enough, skipping Wisconsin and barely visiting Michigan. She got discombobulated about gender and whinged about sexism.

“Hillary Clinton did not lose because she was a woman. She lost because she was Hillary Clinton.”Credit: AP

I asked political strategist James Carville if Harris’ problem is that too many Americans are still chary about voting for a woman, much less a woman of colour. He chided me. “We’re not going to change her gender or her ethnic background between now and election day, so let’s not worry about it,” he said. “Time is short, really short. They need to be more aggressive. They don’t strike me as having any kind of a killer instinct. They let one fat pitch after another go by. I’m scared to death. They have to hit hard – pronto.” Her campaign, he said dryly, “is still in Wilmington”.

Harris spent a week answering........

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