Picture Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, as young, beautiful Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” being blown away in a storm and, in the end, coming face to face with the scary wizard.
And there he is, a blowhard behind a green curtain, shouting into the wind. In the movie, the wizard looks like former President Donald Trump.
In the American archetypal story, Dorothy says, “You’re a very bad man!”
The yellow brick road leads to the wizard: revealed, reduced and demystified. He has lost his power.
Harris has undergone some twists and tornados of fortune, to (almost) arrive at an American happy ending. Don’t you feel it too? The July zeitgeist (wind of fate) took President Joe Biden out of the race and put her in place as the party favorite to succeed him.
Actually, Harris earned that place within 24 hours. It was a stunning feat of political mastery, showing she was ready for the adventure, the journey toward the West Wing.
Just like that, the whole campaign changed.
Democrats landed like bluebirds on the Chicago convention, sure of a boffo success. Hillary Clinton and Biden crushed speeches that brought tears to some eyes, for their grace and generosity combined with fighting force. They gave way to the next generation, with just a drop of bittersweet.
The delegates embraced the new party darling, a biracial Californian woman who can stare down a criminal on the witness stand.
Harris did make Brett Kavanaugh squirm, stammer and flush when she questioned him on reproductive rights at a Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Named as one of the “Trump three” on the Court, Kavanaugh failed to answer questions truthfully under oath.
Over on the other side, Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, are crossing over to comedy of the absurd.
The Republican ticket is caught off guard, confronted with Harris and a man from the Midwest as her running mate. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is salt of the earth who speaks plainly to the point as a former teacher, coach, soldier and congressman.
Trump and Vance, an old man and a young man, see this common bond in each other: Outlandish personal insults is their brand. So far, they can’t stick the landing on Harris, Walz and their voters.
Exposing his vanity, Trump exclaimed over and over in his wizard voice that he is a “better-looking person” than Harris. Yes, he really seems to think so, which is truly amazing.
Mysteriously, two conservative columnists, Peggy Noonan and Kathleen Parker, wrote that Harris’ beauty is an advantage in the race. They’ve been kind to me, but I’m not sure why they wrote that. Was it to diminish her substance?
Harris shows a certain command as she walks and talks. The “word salads” she was once criticized for are gone.
“Hillbilly Elegy” author Vance’s low opinion of women is coming to light, especially if you have a cat but no child.
Speaking strictly for me, I miss my cat Girlfriend, who is gone now. I’m not over that yet.
And yes, I confess that I’m happily single too. Since when is that a problem? After being unhappily married, I savor my everyday freedom.
What does Usha Vance really think about her husband’s weird putdowns of half the human race? I’d like to have a girltalk with her.
Vance also takes it upon himself to cut into “childless” women. That is a personal insult not even Trump would say. A sure vote-loser, as if motherhood is at the end of every female quest. As he would have it, older women exist to take care of their grandchildren.
Author Virginia Woolf didn’t have children. Nor did Jane Austen. Nor does Gloria Steinem. There is no choice more personal, and it helps to have time, money, health, security, child care and former President Bill Clinton’s Family and Medical Leave Act.
Many observers, including doctors, think Trump is losing it in a land of his absurdities. Without naming names, Harris spoke of him as cowardly — “Wizard of Oz” language.
As for Vance, the politics of personal insults is not the Appalachian Trail to the White House.
But keep doing what you’re doing.
Jamie Stiehm is a former assignment editor at CBS News in London, reporter at The Hill, metro reporter at the Baltimore Sun and public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She is author of a new play, “Across the River,” on Aaron Burr. See JamieStiehm.com.
From The Progressive Populist, September 15, 2024
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