By Willow (willowashmaple.sbs, formerly of willowashmaple.xyz)
Oct. 15, 2024
I am writing this as a kind of caution for those who put misguided expectations on the future President Kamala Harris, and to help readers understand how the world of politics works, versus how the activist spaces work.
From day one, President Harris will face challenges and difficult spaces to navigate. The honeymoon period after winning the presidency through an unprecedented coalition will be very brief. Many Republicans who endorse her today will quickly distance themselves from her and go back to their normal Republican selves. The progressives may quickly find themselves dismayed by “Copmala Harris” militarizing the southern border and rapidly increasing the deportation capacity. She will have an unenviable job of keeping the nation together, governing the nation working with hostile, obstructionist Republicans (who may gain a majority in at least one of the chambers of Congress) so that they won’t hold the government and country hostage over petty culture-war issues such as DEI and LGBTQ rights.
Predictably, many progressives, today eager Kamala supporters, will call her a “sell-out” and “traitor” who cowardly panders to the right.
But their complaint is based on a profound misunderstanding: elected leaders — politicians — are not activists, even if they once were activists.
The art of being a politician is vastly different from the art of being an activist, just as the art of being an auto mechanic is not remotely similar to the art of being a surgeon.
Read more at my new publication, "Reimagining Statecraft."
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