Cohen: Kamala Harris’s performance as a star will go down in history

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PORTLAND, Maine – In 1961, a surprising historical report by Theodore H. White caused a sensation in the United States. It told the inside story of John F. Kennedy’s election. The title was “The Making of the President 1960.”

White was a pioneer of literary journalism, covering the presidential campaigns of 1964, 1968, 1972 and beyond with elegance and erudition.

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Today, memoirs and chronicles are written about every presidential campaign, but none of them can compare to White’s scrupulous reporting. He would illuminate the corners of that breathtaking campaign that his heirs today have missed.

He could call his report on the 2024 election campaign “Joe Biden’s Downfall: How the 45th President Ran, Failed, and Left Office” or “Kamala Harris’s Rebuilding: How the Vice President Reinvented Herself and Refocused the Campaign.”

Harris’ rise has postponed crucial historical questions, such as how Biden hid his physical decline, why he fatefully agreed to a debate so early, who supported and protected Biden (his wife, his family, his staff) and who brought him down (lawmakers, donors, party elders) and forced him to resign.

That’s crucial to understanding this election campaign. By persisting with his re-election despite his age, running unopposed in the primaries, and silencing every debate, Biden created the opportunity for Harris.

Was it all just a ruse? Did he want to stay in office so long that the nomination period would be over and no one else could apply? Unlikely, but the result was that there was no competition to choose his successor.

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Instead of building a bridge to the next generation, as he promised, Biden became an obstacle. By withdrawing his candidacy shortly before the convention, he preempted an open competition that could have attracted many candidates to showcase their talents, test their ideas and increase their appeal.

Consider the consequences. Up-and-coming Democrats – Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg, Josh Shapiro – were not heard. If Harris serves two terms, 2032 will be too late for most of them.

That is, Biden practically appointed his vice president. She did not have to fight through primaries, participate in debates, give interviews, gain support and raise money, which was Harris’s undoing in 2020.

This year’s presidential election begins with Biden’s dramatic defeat. By supporting Harris and clearing the field, he made her nomination a coronation.

If Americans don’t know Harris, it’s to her advantage. As vice president, she was wrongly dismissed as the partner of a deeply unpopular president.

Without a concrete role or responsibility, her years in purgatory made no sense; as one of her early supporters, I never believed that.

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Other observers who recognized her talent early on – including the astute and eloquent Joe Shine of Miami – met her with a wave of skepticism and hostility.

While Biden is primarily responsible for turning the race for Harris into the frontrunner—Time magazine called it “the fastest mood shift in modern political history”—he has enabled her to breathlessly and brilliantly reinvent herself.

That means she’ll have to jettison her positions on healthcare reform, fracking, and defunding the police. That means she’ll have to put distance between herself and Biden on Israel, inflation, and immigration. That means she’ll have to adopt Trump’s policy of not taxing restaurant tips (on which he will charge a commission).

It means forgetting the failure of her 2020 campaign, the staff she failed to retain, and the message she failed to convey.

Now everything is different. Compared to the convicted felon, she is the police officer Kamala. Compared to the conservative courts, she is the advocate of abortion. Compared to the moody white septuagenarian, she is the young, black, rebellious woman.

It’s ready for a meme: Prosecute the criminals, keep the state out of your fold, we’re not going back!

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That’s what vice presidents do. They abandon their past and their benefactors, and if they don’t run fast enough – like Hubert Humphrey didn’t run away from LBJ’s Vietnam War in 1968 – they lose.

The redesign of Kamala Harris isn’t just a reinvention. If you mistakenly believed she was a weak vice president, this is a rehabilitation. Revenge, even.

If her performance as the story’s star goes well – and given this unprecedented election campaign, it’s too early to know – The Making of the President 2024 will be a drama of magic, mystery and redemption worthy of the genius of Theodore White.

Andrew Cohen is a journalist, commentator and author of “Two Days in June: John F. Kennedy and the 48 Hours That Made History”.

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