A curious thing about the contemporary Democratic Party is that it hasn’t had a nominee since 2012 who has risen to their present station of their own volition. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were the most talented political campaigners since Ronald Reagan. And everyone who has come after them owes their fortunes to that fact. Hillary Clinton was a prospect in 2008 — and the nominee in 2016 — because she was married to Bill. Joe Biden was the VP from 2009 to 2017 — and the nominee in 2020 — because Barack Obama plucked him out of the Senate and made him his running mate. Kamala Harris will almost certainly be the nominee in 2024 because, despite having run one of the most disastrous primary campaigns in modern history, she was picked as his running mate by Joe Biden, who, in turn, owed his late-stage political career to Barack Obama. I am not quite sure what this says about the Democratic Party, but I am sure that it is true. And at some point, in one way or another, it’s going to matter.