A reader complains that I’m being mean in this sentence in today’s Morning Jolt:
They executed that gameplan to perfection in 2008, and between now and Election Day, we’re going to see the Obamamania playbook dusted off. Kamala Harris will be touted as the embodiment of all things cool, your fun aunt, America’s “Mom-ala,” as Drew Barrymore cringe-inducingly asked her to be.
Apparently, it’s mean because that’s what Harris’s stepchildren call her — “Mom-ala.” But that’s not what I’m objecting to; the Harris stepkids can call her whatever they like. No, what I’m mocking is Drew Barrymore asking the vice president to play the role of our national mom.
I keep thinking in my head that we all need a mom. I’ve been thinking that we really all need a tremendous hug in the world right now, but in our country, we need you to be Mamala of the country.
The president is not our national father or grandfather, and the vice president is not our national mother. They’re not there to give us hugs. We are not children, and we do not need or want our elected officials to think of themselves as our parents. After all, parents have almost unlimited authority over their children, and the entire founding of the U.S. is based on the concept of government leaders having limited authority over the citizens. No elected official gets to send us to bed without supper, ground us, or wash our mouth out with soap.
The president and vice president already have jobs, and that’s running the executive branch. And remember, these are temp jobs.
And for everybody reflexively sneering, “Why didn’t you say this about Trump?” . . . I did say this about Trump!
Very rarely do I agree with the New York Times‘ Charles Blow, but I think his objection to Barrymore’s comment is worth noting:
In an attempt to convey intimacy in her conversation with the vice president, Barrymore allowed informality to veer into disrespect.
The country doesn’t need and shouldn’t ask Vice President Harris to be its mama or its mammy. The country needs her to continue to advance the agenda of the administration in which she serves — and for which Americans voted — like every white man before her.
And America needs to grow up and be accountable for its own actions and whatever repercussions flow from them. Comforting the country in this moment of crisis isn’t Black women’s burden.