THE IDIOCY OF AUTHENTICITY.

The purists come for ... Kamala Harris. "Emerson College Associate Professor in American Studies Roger House, wrote an op-ed in the Hill sharing the “painful” experience of watching Black women pretend to be excited over Harris’s nomination."

What's his beef?

First, Harris’s selection revisits a stereotype of racial preference and social acceptance in America: fair skin, straight hair, a fluid racial background disconnected from the traditional Black experience, and an easy appeal to the inclusive sensibility of white liberals.

Second, the selection paints into a corner Black women leaders with more authentic experience. It forces them to embrace a historical first that undercuts their own natural beauty, culture and hard work to earn a place in the sun. At the same time, it allows Harris to ride on the coattails of the civil rights struggles and achievements. So, once again, the Black political class finds itself somewhat duped by its over-dependence on liberals; in fact, one could say that they are party to their own undoing.

In these racially divisive times, the VP choice sent a not-so-subtle message to the Black folk: It expressed that Black lives matter to the Democratic Party elite, but that the elite may value those Blacks of light skin and untraditional background a little more.

I have two gripes, one aesthetic, one substantive.

Note that he didn't mention the senator's voice, which puts me in mind of Charlie Brown's teacher, every time she opens her mouth.  (I ask again, why are people whose career success so often depends on making speeches so reluctant to hire voice coaches?)  But I will concur or differ with the senator on what she says, not on how hard it is to listen to what she says.

Substantively, I wonder if the professor inadvertently confirmed what The Wall Street Journal's editorial writers have alleged for some time, that is, there is a liberal plantation; and that Democrats garner votes in part by using the continued misery of their constituents as grounds for continuing the policies that keep their constituents miserable.

To the professor, though, the phony authenticity matters, at least at the margin.

Surely, some in the Black political class were crestfallen when the Biden campaign bypassed numerous women representing authentic Black communities? These included Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Karen Bass, Florida Rep. Val Demings, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms, Stacey Abrams, the 2018 gubernatorial candidate in Georgia, and, to a lesser extent, former United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice.

Even more, the talented women politicians were put in the position of runner-up contestants in a Miss America pageant. They had to stand in the figurative public spotlight with awkward smiles and applaud as media pundits crowned Harris with the rambling description as the “first African American, first Asian American, and first woman of color” vice presidential nominee.

It's unlikely that any of those possible candidates will sit the election out because having a less authentic black woman dominates risking the return of an orange man in their personal scales of happiness.  For my part, it wouldn't matter, as I would agree or disagree with the public positions of any of those candidates on the basis of current positions and past stances.

Perhaps, dear reader, that obscure academicians are taking to The Hill to raise aesthetic objections suggests that despite pandemic and quarantine, unemployment and urban unrest, hockey playoffs in August, things are not as bad as the most pessimistic sorts would have us believe.