Opinion

Were Democrats too hasty about falling in line?

Sorry, a summary is not available for this article at this time. Please try again later.

Podcast episode

Ruth Marcus: Perry, how do you see Vice President Harris’s political strengths? And in particular, can you address the question in 2024 of both gender and race and whether they are a net plus or a net minus? How do they impact the path going forward?

Perry Bacon: I think it is worth saying that I believe there is racism. I believe there is sexism. I think these are important forces in our culture. But Barack Obama won two elections. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in a third election.

Advertisement

All things being equal, you’d rather be a White person in a majority White country and probably a man in a country with some patriarchy. But I don’t think that Harris cannot win or that she is not electable based on her race and gender. I could imagine her winning because the country is so polarized. Trump is so unpopular.

To be totally honest here, my worry is that it seems like Trump is likely to win. And as a Black person, I do think when Joe Biden loses, one White man who is old loses. And when Kamala Harris loses, we’re going to have another round of discourse about whether it was race or gender.

I’m not looking forward to it because I think it’s a complicated question. Her previous run was........

© Washington Post