Kamala Harris, the most unexpected and historic of major presidential candidates, has already earned your vote.
There is a video clip of Vice President Kamala Harris talking to a young girl about leadership. Her advice: “You never have to ask anyone permission to lead. When you want to lead, just lead,” she says.
Clearly Harris took that permission for herself in her overnight rise from Joe Biden’s loyal running mate to his replacement as presidential candidate.
Even Oprah Winfrey, in a town hall with the candidate on Sept. 19, commented on how Harris transformed from serviceable Joe Biden stand-in one week to fiery, swaggery speechmaker the next. I saw it too. Gone was the vice president from early 2021 stuck with the gargantuan no-win task of figuring out why people illegally cross the border.
She was the commanding candidate accepting her party’s nomination. She was master debater, putting Donald Trump on his heels during their Sept. 10 debate, verbally smacking him for boasting about his supposed friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, “a dictator who would eat you for lunch.”
This was a Kamala Harris I didn’t know existed. Years ago, probably when she was California attorney general, I’d seen her leave an L.A. Times editorial board meeting, looking exasperated after being pummeled with questions from my colleagues and me. We could be a tough room, and how the attorney general dealt with criminal justice issues was often a topic of controversy.
Kamala Harris, the 2.0 version, is self-assured, unflappable and funny. (To the hecklers at one of her recent rallies in Wisconsin: “Oh — you guys are at the wrong rally.
