So What, Chris Cillizza

Identity politics. Wokeness. And what’s next.

March 14, 2020 – the day that set us on a course to where we are today.

When Joe Biden made the transparently political promise in a Sunday evening debate with Bernie Sanders that he would choose a woman vice presidential nominee, it was a tactical gambit steeped in identity politics. With this transactional appeal to the progressive left, Biden traded his responsibility to choose the most qualified potential heir for, instead, a smoother path to the nomination that was likely his before the promise was even made.

This is not to say that there are no qualified women who could assume the presidency. But when it became clear that Kamala Harris could check two boxes (gender and person of color) rather than one, she became an irresistible choice.