Barack Obama didn't have a problem winning over voters.
It isn't about anyone's gender or race, it's about the best message. Which is where Harris was absolutely hopeless.
Or, maybe it’s about the “flex” that was brought about by Obama’s ascension that created the backlash, which, in turn, created the narrative we are currently experiencing.
Affirmative action was an almost “nothing thing” but then Obama became a symbol of “See, there’s no need for that anymore! We are all equal now!”
Rather than an acceptance that AA was working, libs doubled down with DEI, and then DEIB, with people on the right wondering if this was going to be the start of another multi-syllabic acronym for a sliver of society to get magnification for their causes (L..G..B..T..Q..I……+).
This ignites yet another series of right wing talking points that ends with a removal of any and all “special interest treatment” on the left!
With the current culture war, from which most Americans have tried to abstain, we are swinging wildly to the far right of the Christian Nationalist agenda.
So, far from being the indicator of progress the OUTSIDE world thought it was, I’d posit that many in this country saw Obama (and his co-opted legacy) as an indicator that things had swung waaaay too far to the left (even though he was NOT the Leftie he was made out to be!!!) and this reaction (Patriots, then MAGA) has been the ignorant and reflexive result.
This further supports the thesis that Democrats have to meet the country where they are, and not where Dems WANT us to be.
Running a white male worked very well in 2020, even though he had a black female VP. However, after seeing the lack of growth of that VP over the 4 years, and the sea change in the country (much of it based on social media BS and Faux News lies) resulting in people being told they were not better off than they were under Trump…and believing it!…here we sit!
I’m not prejudging the Dem Nomination Fight for 2028, but if that Rainbow Coalition of people that throw their hat in the ring doesn’t conclude with a safe pair of white male hands at the top of the ticket, it could be a loooong decade…and then some!