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The Harris Machine

Open Source with Christopher Lydon
Open Source with Christopher Lydon
Episode • Aug 29, 2024 • 35m

There’s a puzzle in this podcast, and it comes with our prize sociologist, Tressie McMillan Cottom. It’s roughly this: How does Kamala Harris, after the Democratic convention in Chicago and for the rest of this campaign, come to look and sound presidential, even though no other president has ever looked like her?

Tressie McMillan Cottom.

Tressie McMillan Cottom has put it this way: that all Kamala Harris has to prove is that a woman can lead, that a black woman can be qualified, that a South Asian woman can come to feel familiar, that a childless woman can become a nation’s Momala, and that a Gen-X sensibility can resonate with boomers.

Open Source with Christopher Lydon • The Harris Machine • Listen on Fountain