She really doesn’t have to say much, GOP is pushing away women on their own without much help.
DeepShill on
She is making tRump so mad by just existing. I can’t wait for the debate when she firmly tells him “I’m speaking” whenever he starts his bullshit.
Synraak on
>Clinton may not have won, but she did prove—by getting a popular-vote majority—that Americans are indeed “ready” for a woman president
This is the core of the article. The country already wrestled with the true possibility of a female president in recent memory.
Son_of_kitsch on
Say what you want about Clinton, and to be fair even Palin, but I keep forgetting that it would be a big deal for a woman to win. It’s good that it doesn’t feel as big of a deal as it did eight years ago. Harris as VP has also of course contributed to that.
itsatumbleweed on
It helps that she’s *incredibly* well qualified. Hillary was qualified, too, but her springboard onto the national stage was who her husband was. Harris was born ~~working~~ middle class and worked her way up to Veep.
Honestly, her set of qualifications absolutely dwarfs those of Obama. The last two Presidents were had that were short on qualifications were Trump and Obama, and most Americans hate at least one of the two.
Due_Willingness1 on
I don’t think it was sexism that did Hillary in, it was that people just plain didn’t like her
People seem to like Harris a lot more
wirsteve on
It shouldn’t be a big deal. It only is to our sexist weirdo population.
There are 29 female leaders in the world. India, Italy, France, Bangladesh, Ethiopia all have female leaders.
There are plenty examples of female leaders doing a great job.
25% of the world’s population (2 billion people) is led by females and 75% by men.
TintedApostle on
Don’t worry the press will remind everyone….
Affectionate_Ratio79 on
> Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told me, explaining the tremendous political success women have had in the Wolverine State, where the governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general are also female.
Being from Michigan, I feel compelled to point out this glaring mistake that our Lt Governor is a woman. He’s not.
Poococktail on
Kamala is no Hilary. The problem with Hilary is that nobody found her appealing regardless of her accomplishments
Lawn_Orderly on
She is running on competence, preparedness, and respect for all groups. So, basically what you should expect from the CEO of a large organization.
> "You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I'm speaking," Harris said, getting the crowd on her side as they drowned out the protester with chants of "Kamala!" Next, one might have expected her to threaten to Turn.
> "Kamala Harris has a road map that Hillary Clinton never had." This time the road map may actually lead to the Oval Office.
Hillary had years of coverage in the far right media whill bill was president, they made her a boogie man before she ever ran
FanDry5374 on
Harris is standing on Clinton’s shoulders. Fortunately Hillary has strong ones.
AnotherUsername901 on
She has the benefit of not being Hillary.
Hillary was not popular on either side as well as we shouldn’t keep voting families in as president it was starting to look like a dynasty.
AgnarCrackenhammer on
I know sexism played a part but Hilary ran a pretty terrible campaign. The biggest “trap” Harris is avoiding is actually courting votes in the mid-West. Hilary took those votes for granted. That’s why she lost
h3fabio on
I still remember at the debates, when Clinton was asked how her presidency would differ from Obama’s, she answered, “Well, for one, I am a woman.”
Ornery-Ticket834 on
Everyone moves forward on the shoulders of the last person. She learned from Clinton and so it goes. Also it’s a quite different candidacy in many respects. Bernie split the party pretty good in 16, Wikipedia, Comey and his deplorable conduct etc. This is a lot cleaner and Trump is now and even older and grumpier if not more deranged candidate.
kjfbw on
The truth is that most of the countries of the world that are respected have or have had female leaders. We are so behind the times here in the USA that it is embarrassing.
KitchenBomber on
Harris is also avoiding the trap of not campaigning anywhere and relying on bad digital models of how ad dollars could deliver votes that Clinton dove head first into.
vicegrip on
Kamala Harris also picked a great running mate. He’s a progressive redneck. A great guy. A kind man who is both smart and down to the earth with the rest of us. So they’re going ape shit about him out of fear of a better man than they.
BardInChains on
The problem with Hillary was that she’s an ice box of a human, a lizard folk and everyone could see it. She may have been a woman but she was still just another stuffed suit and talking head. She didn’t connect with people. Kamala is both a woman *and* a real person.
IKantSayNo on
Sexism is where dad and adult sons diss mom.
In this case, we have grandpa dissing his daughter. “Dad, we think you should maybe play bingo or go to one of the activities rooms, and avoid the room with 5 TVs all tuned to Fox.”
Archie doesn’t get to whine to Edith anymore.
TheSkarcrow on
Ok but has she said to pokemon go out and vote yet? Because that will for sure sell me on her.
Suspicious_Glove7365 on
Hillary Clinton ran so Kamala Harris could win. We owe Hillary so much. I have always hated how the left was so divided over her, falling for the same traps that right wingers had been laying for decades, “I don’t trust her. There’s something *off* about her.” She wasn’t the *right* kind of woman, which is a criticism that most women are painfully familiar with. They couldn’t handle that she wasn’t the kind of woman they wanted, and so Trump won.
BioDriver on
While sexism was a contributing factor, argue Clinton’s arrogance and “it’s my turn” attitude was a larger reason in her loss. It made her instantly unlikeable and further brought attention to Trump‘s (at the time) political outsider status.
Sharkictus on
Controversial opinion, but imo Hillary would have done worse as a man, because for whatever reason Reddit didn’t wasn’t to accomplishment this, she is still an empty corporate suit political machine with very little charisma and she’s so core and loyal the democratic party system that she used their incompetent marketing that had been made fun of for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory since the 90’s.
Kamala has issues with general leftists because she’s a prosecutor, but given that her opponent is a terrible felon, it works for her. She has way more charisma than much of the democratic party in general, and she is allowing her marketing to go ham.
HRC is a democratic equivalent of Romney at best, Bob Dole at worst.
NYLotteGiants on
Treating being a woman as a characteristic rather than a qualification has been the better strategy.
ill_be_huckleberry_1 on
Absolve Hillary of running a dog shit campaign.
It’s so tiresome. She flat out didn’t campaign until Wisconsin. But sure, sexist trap.
igotabridgetosell on
Voted for obama, hillary, biden, and will for kamala.
Sure, Hillary might have been qualified for the job but the way she got there was suspect. She hasn’t held an elected office once before she became the first lady. And she was inserted to cabinet roles to fast-track her to become the first female president of our country. The conservatives saw this coming from miles away and that’s why they started the hate movement on her. The first female president shouldn’t be cuz she was married to one.
Kamala’s been holding elected offices for 30 years. Some may knock on her about how she became alameda county’s DA, but she was also elected as SF district attorney, CA AG, CA Senator, and VP following the first job. You can’t get elected into those offices unless you’ve done well on your previous positions.
This is why Kamala will be the first female president in the USA and we should be fucking proud for her.
-signed alameda county resident who witnessed her career.
thendisnigh111349 on
People need a concrete vision to rally around which is what Hilary’s 2016 campaign had been missing. Kamala and her campaign have comparatively been very smart by barely mentioning how historic her rise to the presidency would be as a black woman. They’re instead making it about the fight to stop MAGA and preserve democracy, not Kamala herself, and that’s why her campaign is working where Hilary’s failed.
gza_liquidswords on
I think her strategy of not engaging with the media is smart. Our media is broken, they want controversy and clicks. Trumps entire strategy has been to continually sling mud in the hope that something sticks. By not engaging she doesn’t give media a chance to find something to latch onto. They would love nothing more than to create a scandal out of “white guy tacos”. Fortunately Trump has such a low attention span that the next day they are onto new baseless attacks, and without the media amplification there is nothing that will stick.
highwaytohell66 on
Sadly I think what helps blunt a lot of the sexist attacks is that she didn’t actively seek the presidency but was basically chosen for the role b/c Biden dropped out.
lyn73 on
Clinton campaigned on being the first woman president of the US. That is partially why she lost. She was right in her assessment of Trump…but let’s be real…she dissed/pissed off a lot people and she did not know how to run against a clown.
We know what to do now that we know DT and his political weaknesses and how he handles things..and him choosing Vance as his running mate was just the gift that keeps on giving…..
It’s like MVP was made for this moment: former prosecutor, woman who is undeterred…self-made….no baggage….
PracticableSolution on
The GOP spent over 20 years casting her as a villain. They identified her as a threat early and chipped away at her standing for decades. Don’t forget that.
Psychological_Ad1999 on
Hilary lost because she was a pro-choice neocon, she also happened to be a woman. Negative opinions about her had been formed for two decades and chalking up the loss to sexism is a disservice to other candidates who are women. The right hated her for a long time because they reflexively hate democrats. The left didn’t like because her senate voting record was a rubber stamp for Bush’s worst policies (wars and tax cuts) and couldn’t trust her. I honestly felt like she was going to lose to any Republican in 2016 and thought Trump was the only chance she had of winning. The results of 2016 had more to do with the hubris of the DNC.
GameMusic on
*Next, one might have expected her to threaten to Turn. This Rally. Around. if people didn’t behave.*
Ugh
Hillary defenders continue to show so much sexism in their weird defenses
Likeable enough was not sexist either
Hillary is just not a good candidate
You can find plenty of sexism from the depths like Tucker Carlson it does not negate her awful campaign
godpzagod on
It also helps she’s basically been kept in the package for most of Biden’s term. Veeps aren’t real visible to begin with, but with cheeto sucking up all the oxygen in the news, she was almost NEVER heard or seen from. Hence cheeto being confused or acting confused as to who she is. If this was by design, that’s some 4d chess.
Akuuntus on
I feel that Harris’ campaign has been smart to avoid calling too much attention to her gender. When Hillary was running it felt like one of the main messages and selling points of her campaign was “I am a woman” and “I will be the first woman president, isn’t that so cool and groundbreaking”. Harris on the other hand has not mentioned that kind of stuff almost at all, even though she would also be the first woman president. Her pitch for “why you should vote for me” is much more focused on what she would bring to the table as a leader and a politician, not just as a historical milestone.
DiggingThisAir on
People keep blaming sexism for Hillary not winning but that’s such a cop out. Not to mention the fact that she did win the popular vote. Imo that was a miracle in itself considering how unpopular she was compared to trump and Bernie Sanders. Most people on the left wanted Bernie and I think her throwing him under the bus in such an unnatural and unethical way put a bad taste in the mouths of too many people. If Bernie had just not been as popular on his own, I believe she would have had a much better chance, but she disrespected someone everyone saw as a hero so she could step in and pretend to be the most popular, and the lack of public focus on that and instead blaming sexism, without any evidence, is false, intellectually lazy, and kinda gross.
Edit: hypothetically, if it had been Michelle Obama running instead of Hillary Clinton, it would have been a landslide. Anyone disagree with that? If you don’t, then you have to admit sexism wasn’t the issue.
True_Window_9389 on
Trump embodies the most sexist stereotypes that exist about women, so those sexist arguments about Harris don’t really hit.
IceCreamMeatballs on
I feel like the political climate and campaign messaging is very different now compared to 2016. Hillary Clinton’s campaign was basically, “Obama has made this country great and I will keep it that way, also I’m a woman”. The stakes are much higher this election and Kamala’s campaign seems to actually be emphasizing that it’s time for a serious change.
snotboogie on
I’m a lifelong democrat. Never voted Red. I didn’t like Hilary Clinton. She was a very flawed candidate.
Paragon910 on
She’s avoiding the same mistake Hillary made. A big reason I voted against her 8 years ago was that her whole message seemed to be Vote for me because I’m a woman and I deserve it. She didn’t offer anything new. I voted for Trump, which is a mistake I regret to this day.
Harris is being smarter. Her message is not wrapped up in her gender. Her message is an inspiring message that would work with any candidate. She is trying to be inspiring while Trump is using fear. Hope and inspiration will always prevail over fear. I applaud her intelligence.
44 Comments
She really doesn’t have to say much, GOP is pushing away women on their own without much help.
She is making tRump so mad by just existing. I can’t wait for the debate when she firmly tells him “I’m speaking” whenever he starts his bullshit.
>Clinton may not have won, but she did prove—by getting a popular-vote majority—that Americans are indeed “ready” for a woman president
This is the core of the article. The country already wrestled with the true possibility of a female president in recent memory.
Say what you want about Clinton, and to be fair even Palin, but I keep forgetting that it would be a big deal for a woman to win. It’s good that it doesn’t feel as big of a deal as it did eight years ago. Harris as VP has also of course contributed to that.
It helps that she’s *incredibly* well qualified. Hillary was qualified, too, but her springboard onto the national stage was who her husband was. Harris was born ~~working~~ middle class and worked her way up to Veep.
Honestly, her set of qualifications absolutely dwarfs those of Obama. The last two Presidents were had that were short on qualifications were Trump and Obama, and most Americans hate at least one of the two.
I don’t think it was sexism that did Hillary in, it was that people just plain didn’t like her
People seem to like Harris a lot more
It shouldn’t be a big deal. It only is to our sexist weirdo population.
There are 29 female leaders in the world. India, Italy, France, Bangladesh, Ethiopia all have female leaders.
There are plenty examples of female leaders doing a great job.
25% of the world’s population (2 billion people) is led by females and 75% by men.
Don’t worry the press will remind everyone….
> Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told me, explaining the tremendous political success women have had in the Wolverine State, where the governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general are also female.
Being from Michigan, I feel compelled to point out this glaring mistake that our Lt Governor is a woman. He’s not.
Kamala is no Hilary. The problem with Hilary is that nobody found her appealing regardless of her accomplishments
She is running on competence, preparedness, and respect for all groups. So, basically what you should expect from the CEO of a large organization.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://newrepublic.com/article/184811/kamala-harris-redefining-woman-runs-president) reduced by 92%. (I’m a bot)
*****
> Vice President Kamala Harris, trying to accomplish what Clinton could not, has not been spared the sexist gauntlet every female candidate must run.
> "You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I'm speaking," Harris said, getting the crowd on her side as they drowned out the protester with chants of "Kamala!" Next, one might have expected her to threaten to Turn.
> "Kamala Harris has a road map that Hillary Clinton never had." This time the road map may actually lead to the Oval Office.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/1ew4qw8/kamala_harris_is_redefining_how_a_woman_runs_for/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ “Version 2.02, ~692574 tl;drs so far.”) | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr “PM’s and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.”) | *Top* *keywords*: **Harris**^#1 **Clinton**^#2 **women**^#3 **female**^#4 **more**^#5
Hillary had years of coverage in the far right media whill bill was president, they made her a boogie man before she ever ran
Harris is standing on Clinton’s shoulders. Fortunately Hillary has strong ones.
She has the benefit of not being Hillary.
Hillary was not popular on either side as well as we shouldn’t keep voting families in as president it was starting to look like a dynasty.
I know sexism played a part but Hilary ran a pretty terrible campaign. The biggest “trap” Harris is avoiding is actually courting votes in the mid-West. Hilary took those votes for granted. That’s why she lost
I still remember at the debates, when Clinton was asked how her presidency would differ from Obama’s, she answered, “Well, for one, I am a woman.”
Everyone moves forward on the shoulders of the last person. She learned from Clinton and so it goes. Also it’s a quite different candidacy in many respects. Bernie split the party pretty good in 16, Wikipedia, Comey and his deplorable conduct etc. This is a lot cleaner and Trump is now and even older and grumpier if not more deranged candidate.
The truth is that most of the countries of the world that are respected have or have had female leaders. We are so behind the times here in the USA that it is embarrassing.
Harris is also avoiding the trap of not campaigning anywhere and relying on bad digital models of how ad dollars could deliver votes that Clinton dove head first into.
Kamala Harris also picked a great running mate. He’s a progressive redneck. A great guy. A kind man who is both smart and down to the earth with the rest of us. So they’re going ape shit about him out of fear of a better man than they.
The problem with Hillary was that she’s an ice box of a human, a lizard folk and everyone could see it. She may have been a woman but she was still just another stuffed suit and talking head. She didn’t connect with people. Kamala is both a woman *and* a real person.
Sexism is where dad and adult sons diss mom.
In this case, we have grandpa dissing his daughter. “Dad, we think you should maybe play bingo or go to one of the activities rooms, and avoid the room with 5 TVs all tuned to Fox.”
Archie doesn’t get to whine to Edith anymore.
Ok but has she said to pokemon go out and vote yet? Because that will for sure sell me on her.
Hillary Clinton ran so Kamala Harris could win. We owe Hillary so much. I have always hated how the left was so divided over her, falling for the same traps that right wingers had been laying for decades, “I don’t trust her. There’s something *off* about her.” She wasn’t the *right* kind of woman, which is a criticism that most women are painfully familiar with. They couldn’t handle that she wasn’t the kind of woman they wanted, and so Trump won.
While sexism was a contributing factor, argue Clinton’s arrogance and “it’s my turn” attitude was a larger reason in her loss. It made her instantly unlikeable and further brought attention to Trump‘s (at the time) political outsider status.
Controversial opinion, but imo Hillary would have done worse as a man, because for whatever reason Reddit didn’t wasn’t to accomplishment this, she is still an empty corporate suit political machine with very little charisma and she’s so core and loyal the democratic party system that she used their incompetent marketing that had been made fun of for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory since the 90’s.
Kamala has issues with general leftists because she’s a prosecutor, but given that her opponent is a terrible felon, it works for her. She has way more charisma than much of the democratic party in general, and she is allowing her marketing to go ham.
HRC is a democratic equivalent of Romney at best, Bob Dole at worst.
Treating being a woman as a characteristic rather than a qualification has been the better strategy.
Absolve Hillary of running a dog shit campaign.
It’s so tiresome. She flat out didn’t campaign until Wisconsin. But sure, sexist trap.
Voted for obama, hillary, biden, and will for kamala.
Sure, Hillary might have been qualified for the job but the way she got there was suspect. She hasn’t held an elected office once before she became the first lady. And she was inserted to cabinet roles to fast-track her to become the first female president of our country. The conservatives saw this coming from miles away and that’s why they started the hate movement on her. The first female president shouldn’t be cuz she was married to one.
Kamala’s been holding elected offices for 30 years. Some may knock on her about how she became alameda county’s DA, but she was also elected as SF district attorney, CA AG, CA Senator, and VP following the first job. You can’t get elected into those offices unless you’ve done well on your previous positions.
This is why Kamala will be the first female president in the USA and we should be fucking proud for her.
-signed alameda county resident who witnessed her career.
People need a concrete vision to rally around which is what Hilary’s 2016 campaign had been missing. Kamala and her campaign have comparatively been very smart by barely mentioning how historic her rise to the presidency would be as a black woman. They’re instead making it about the fight to stop MAGA and preserve democracy, not Kamala herself, and that’s why her campaign is working where Hilary’s failed.
I think her strategy of not engaging with the media is smart. Our media is broken, they want controversy and clicks. Trumps entire strategy has been to continually sling mud in the hope that something sticks. By not engaging she doesn’t give media a chance to find something to latch onto. They would love nothing more than to create a scandal out of “white guy tacos”. Fortunately Trump has such a low attention span that the next day they are onto new baseless attacks, and without the media amplification there is nothing that will stick.
Sadly I think what helps blunt a lot of the sexist attacks is that she didn’t actively seek the presidency but was basically chosen for the role b/c Biden dropped out.
Clinton campaigned on being the first woman president of the US. That is partially why she lost. She was right in her assessment of Trump…but let’s be real…she dissed/pissed off a lot people and she did not know how to run against a clown.
We know what to do now that we know DT and his political weaknesses and how he handles things..and him choosing Vance as his running mate was just the gift that keeps on giving…..
It’s like MVP was made for this moment: former prosecutor, woman who is undeterred…self-made….no baggage….
The GOP spent over 20 years casting her as a villain. They identified her as a threat early and chipped away at her standing for decades. Don’t forget that.
Hilary lost because she was a pro-choice neocon, she also happened to be a woman. Negative opinions about her had been formed for two decades and chalking up the loss to sexism is a disservice to other candidates who are women. The right hated her for a long time because they reflexively hate democrats. The left didn’t like because her senate voting record was a rubber stamp for Bush’s worst policies (wars and tax cuts) and couldn’t trust her. I honestly felt like she was going to lose to any Republican in 2016 and thought Trump was the only chance she had of winning. The results of 2016 had more to do with the hubris of the DNC.
*Next, one might have expected her to threaten to Turn. This Rally. Around. if people didn’t behave.*
Ugh
Hillary defenders continue to show so much sexism in their weird defenses
Likeable enough was not sexist either
Hillary is just not a good candidate
You can find plenty of sexism from the depths like Tucker Carlson it does not negate her awful campaign
It also helps she’s basically been kept in the package for most of Biden’s term. Veeps aren’t real visible to begin with, but with cheeto sucking up all the oxygen in the news, she was almost NEVER heard or seen from. Hence cheeto being confused or acting confused as to who she is. If this was by design, that’s some 4d chess.
I feel that Harris’ campaign has been smart to avoid calling too much attention to her gender. When Hillary was running it felt like one of the main messages and selling points of her campaign was “I am a woman” and “I will be the first woman president, isn’t that so cool and groundbreaking”. Harris on the other hand has not mentioned that kind of stuff almost at all, even though she would also be the first woman president. Her pitch for “why you should vote for me” is much more focused on what she would bring to the table as a leader and a politician, not just as a historical milestone.
People keep blaming sexism for Hillary not winning but that’s such a cop out. Not to mention the fact that she did win the popular vote. Imo that was a miracle in itself considering how unpopular she was compared to trump and Bernie Sanders. Most people on the left wanted Bernie and I think her throwing him under the bus in such an unnatural and unethical way put a bad taste in the mouths of too many people. If Bernie had just not been as popular on his own, I believe she would have had a much better chance, but she disrespected someone everyone saw as a hero so she could step in and pretend to be the most popular, and the lack of public focus on that and instead blaming sexism, without any evidence, is false, intellectually lazy, and kinda gross.
Edit: hypothetically, if it had been Michelle Obama running instead of Hillary Clinton, it would have been a landslide. Anyone disagree with that? If you don’t, then you have to admit sexism wasn’t the issue.
Trump embodies the most sexist stereotypes that exist about women, so those sexist arguments about Harris don’t really hit.
I feel like the political climate and campaign messaging is very different now compared to 2016. Hillary Clinton’s campaign was basically, “Obama has made this country great and I will keep it that way, also I’m a woman”. The stakes are much higher this election and Kamala’s campaign seems to actually be emphasizing that it’s time for a serious change.
I’m a lifelong democrat. Never voted Red. I didn’t like Hilary Clinton. She was a very flawed candidate.
She’s avoiding the same mistake Hillary made. A big reason I voted against her 8 years ago was that her whole message seemed to be Vote for me because I’m a woman and I deserve it. She didn’t offer anything new. I voted for Trump, which is a mistake I regret to this day.
Harris is being smarter. Her message is not wrapped up in her gender. Her message is an inspiring message that would work with any candidate. She is trying to be inspiring while Trump is using fear. Hope and inspiration will always prevail over fear. I applaud her intelligence.