There are moments in time that speak to sheer joy. In a world filled with dire upswings in COVID-19, an epic economic crisis, the rise of white supremacy, children in cages, and a lunatic in the White House, we need hope, inspiration, and an uplift for our spirits.
Senator and vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris provided one of those moments at a campaign rally last week in Jacksonville, Florida, when during a rainstorm she danced a moment, and later tweeted to supporters, “Rain or shine, Democracy waits for no one.”
As Biden-Harris supporters shared the photo and video clips on social media, making them go viral, a holdover from the days of speechwriting for Ronnie Ray-Gun, Peggy Noonan—currently a columnist for The Wall Street Journal—made the unfortunate (for her) decision to turn Harris’ joy into an open diss.
Here’s the Harris tweet.
Noonan decided to talk out the side of her neck by declaring Harris to be “insubstantial” and “frivolous,” and is currently being roasted on Twitter for her caucasity.
In her opinion piece, “A Good Debate, and It’s Not Quite Over,” Noonan lauds Trump, critiques Biden, and then decided to sharpen her claws on Harris.
For her part, vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris is, when on the trail, giddy. She’s dancing with drum lines and beginning rallies with “Wassup, Florida!” She’s throwing her head back and laughing a loud laugh, especially when nobody said anything funny. She’s the younger candidate going for the younger vote, and she’s going for a Happy Warrior vibe, but she’s coming across as insubstantial, frivolous. When she started to dance in the rain onstage, in Jacksonville, Fla., to Mary J. Blige’s “Work That,” it was embarrassing.
Apparently you’re not allowed to say these things because she’s a woman, and she’s doubling down on giddy because you’re not allowed to say them. I, however, take Ms. Blige’s advice to heart: I will not sweat it, I will be myself. Kamala Harris is running for vice president of the United States in an era of heightened and unending crisis. The world, which doubts our strength, our character and our class, is watching. If you can’t imitate gravity, could you at least try for seriousness? I hate the shallowness with which politics is now done, the absolute puerility of it. Do you? We’re on the losing side. The future is an endless loop of Barack Obama on “Between Two Ferns,” stamping on your face, forever.
Chile, somebody needs to tell Noonan that you don’t try to drop anemic vanilla shade on a Black woman. There are far too many clapbacks to post here, so I’ll just sample a few.
Peggy “Karen” Noonan is the past. Kamala Harris is our future.
Dance your way to the polls, the mailbox, or the drop box if you haven’t already voted. As Mary J. Blige sings, “Let em get mad, They gonna hate anyway … Don't you get that?”