Karen, the nickname given to a grumpy white woman of a certain age, is making a comeback. The graduate of modestly prestigious Oberlin College, who makes a habit of asking to speak to the manager, was once cast as a villain by progressives. This was especially the case for years during the Black Lives Matter riots. Now, however, Karen represents a key demographic of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.
The vice president deliberately shuns a detail-oriented policy agenda of the type embraced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in 2020. Nor is she attempting to define herself with her professional resume or as second-in-command at the White House, as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton famously did in 2016. Rather, Harris is running away from her record, striking past policy proposals and almost anything that could suggest she has been a Joe Biden-heartbeat away from the presidency for the last four years.
