What do Beyoncé and Kamala Harris have in common

It may be a crude comparison, but President Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race last month and his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee brought back memories of Beyoncé’s surprise eponymous album in 2013. There was surprise, there was wild excitement, there was a coronation and there was a lot of discussion. Overnight, Harris went from being the presumptive No. 2 rejected by her fellow Democrats to the party’s new hope — and a shot at the White House.

The past three weeks have been a honeymoon period for this burgeoning campaign: Donate Harris Earned Media, and Memes There have been a lot of them, and while they’ve toed the line, they haven’t quite crossed over into awkward territory. This is the momentum Harris and the Democratic Party want to see, beyond the possible peak of all this positive coverage: when she accepts the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention next week.

Her momentum is also fueled in part by avoiding the press and other traditional forms of media. In such a short time, we’ve gotten to know Harris as a pop culture fixture, but we haven’t really gotten to know how her governing style and policy substance are similar to and different from the current commander-in-chief.

At the time of this article’s publication, there is no policy platform on her website. Her packed rallies offer feel-good Democratic talking points, and she talks broadly about her values ​​and goals, but offers few details and no real action plan to achieve them. What is her plan for a ceasefire in Gaza? Why? No tax on tips? Does she plan to sign an executive order on abortion rights, or try to work with Congress on the matter?

In the busy early days of the campaign, Harris was like a mirror: She reflected the desires of those who would vote for her, allowing a wide range of voters—including some who disagree—to see what they wanted in her. It’s a strategy that works, and Beyoncé, the woman behind Harris’ campaign song, is the best example of what it can get you.

In many ways, the comparison between presidential candidate Kamala Harris and multi-titled music icon Beyoncé is like apples and oranges. One is a public servant, the other is the record holder for the most awards from the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. But if the 21st-century political landscape has taught us anything, it’s that politics often works similarly to the world of celebrity, for better or worse. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if people are talking about their favorite fans or their Preferred Candidate.

Beyoncé has long been tight-lipped about her media, instead bypassing it and communicating directly with fans through album releases and limited social media. She hasn’t given a traditional TV interview to a reporter in years, and her relationship with the media has been elusive. according to It’s one of many examples of the decline of the celebrity look, once considered a must-have for A-listers. Now, Harris is employing the same strategy.

The Harris campaign requested permission to use the song “It’s Probably No Coincidence” from Beyoncé’s album Freedom. lemonade, It is arguably her magnum opus. It is the singer’s most issue-focused album, and is seen by many as a manifesto (especially in Correct) Those outside the Beyhive’s radar might not have paid as much attention to her reference to relaxers. Birthday Ten years ago, for many people lemonadeThe release of was a turning point in the theme. Gone was the hopeful pop princess who took a stand against political issues. Beyoncé was now black. And not just in a cool sense. In a truly political sense. Even Saturday Night Live The shift was noticed.

In the music video “formThe album’s title track features a young boy in a hood dancing in front of a police officer, raising his hands in protest. Law enforcement officers follow suit, and the camera pans to a wall with the words “Stop Killing Us.” The video ends with Beyoncé standing on a police car and sinking into the water as if being baptized. The video was released in a world after Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown: For the first time, people who don’t feel anxious when they’re pulled over have to consider the experiences of those who are. It’s in Black square on Instagramwhen saying “Black Lives Matter” could get you fired rather than promoted in the C-suite. In a country awakening from its slumber to racial consciousness, The video’s message seems clear.

But while Beyoncé has a blunt message for her audience, there’s also a lot more to what she says than meets the eye. lemonade And subsequent albums, Beyoncé largely turned to Feminist (a term coined by Alice Walker for black feminists) was a feminist before her who never outright said what she believed in. This strategy allowed listeners to project their own desires (and frustrations) onto her, but rarely confirmed or denied whether the idea was valid.

Another similarity between Beyoncé and Kamala Harris is even more obvious: They are both black women. For those who don’t view race as a social construct, and for those who do, racial identity takes a lot of work to achieve. One phrase black children hear over and over as they grow into adulthood is “you have to work twice as hard to achieve half as much.” There is no room for error.

Public life means mistakes are inevitable. Explicit statements can be poison; when they know exactly what you believe, people react, for better or for worse. By staying silent, Beyoncé has been able to (mostly) avoid the accusations that come with being a black woman with a platform and something to say: too angry, too loud, too much. When you’re taught that you have to work twice as hard to get half the distance, you understand that silence and the respectability people give it can propel you the other 50 percent over the finish line.

In this age of oversharing and social media apologies, silence is a wise choice for a pop star; in an age where speaking out keeps you relevant and controversy is capital, this old-school Hollywood approach still applies. For a potential president, the situation is more complicated.

The nature of Harris’s job means she can’t completely avoid the media – but it’s not like she hasn’t tried recently. Aside from the occasional brief post-event exchange, she hasn’t held a press conference or spoken to reporters since becoming the presumptive nominee. It’s clear that Harris would rather talk directly to voters than through the media.

The key difference is this: Despite what the public might plead, a critically acclaimed entertainer should never tell us where she stands on hot-button issues. A politician, especially one seeking to occupy the most powerful office in the country, should explain to the public why she wants that power and what she plans to do with it. The public benefits (or at least becomes more informed) when candidates have to defend their vision under media scrutiny.

Under normal circumstances, such pointed ambiguity would only work for entertainers. Past Democratic primaries have forced candidates to articulate their policy plans as they try to convince voters they are the best choice to carry the party’s banner. In hotly contested races, candidates are willing to give media interviews in hopes of attracting voters’ attention.

This was a problem for Harris during her first presidential campaign. We saw her try to follow this line in her 2019 presidential campaign, which failed. She was asked again and again about her stance on police, and each time she seemed strangely at a loss, and we saw her tough questions in Senate hearings go viral. She told us that her views had changed since she became California’s top police officer, but she couldn’t tell us how, why, or even when.

But this was no normal election: Harris skipped the primary entirely.

With traditional primary campaigns becoming meaningless and passions at an incredible high, Harris may be tempted to speak out on her own, much like the “Freedom” singer did, and let fans — who are known as honeycombAfter all. Like Beyoncé, she knows there are critics waiting for her. Yes, some of those critics and X-Men have opinions no more nuanced than “she’s the DEI candidate.” But as a politician with the actual power to make the laws that govern our lives, those so-called haters are far from the only Americans she needs to answer to. (It’s worth noting that Harris doesn’t mention race and identity as often as Beyoncé — or even as often as Barack Obama — and this isn’t 2008, after all; it’s unlikely we’ll need to.) Racial SpeechAlthough Trump attempt Bringing the cyber diaspora wars to real life. Harris must be ready to tell people what she thinks, and to hear our response.

Maybe that standard feels unfair when you look at Harris’ opponents. There’s a sense that there’s nothing of substance to former President Donald Trump’s agenda. When asked about 2025 — the Heritage Foundation-linked plan for a second Trump administration developed by people close to the former president — Trump has been evasive: He says he supports some parts of it and opposes others, but won’t say which ones. Trump’s refusal to speak candidly about his policies, and his penchant for lying about his accomplishments when discussing his record, have made him so hard to catch that many have given up. They no longer want to expend energy on what could turn into a messy interview and a waste of a news cycle.

Yes, being asked to be “twice as good” is often unfair, and if taken to an extreme, can paralyze the discourse. But Trump’s dereliction of duty has been so extreme that it’s not too much to ask Harris to do better. Of course, more is being asked of Harris. If anyone really should be twice as good, it should be the president of the United States.

Harris’s fumbling is not due to incompetence. She is a former prosecutor. She attended one of the nation’s top black colleges, a school that has produced politicians, activists, and tastemakers across the political spectrum since its founding (this author also attended it). She is fully capable of making her case to the American people. The question now is: Will she do it?