The hype train for Kamala Harris has officially left the station since Joe Biden named her as his vice presidential running mate on Tuesday, and the media is tripping all over themselves with praise and drool to get a seat close to the action. MSNBC fell victim to this once again during a Wednesday afternoon segment of MSNBC Live. Fill-in host Chris Jansing set up the segment with a gushing comment of her own: "I don't know many women's phones who weren't blowing up after yesterday."
Turning to former Hillary Clinton campaign staffer Zerlina Maxwell, the Biden-backing anchor asked: "Tell me about the aftermath. What went through your mind and what's your reaction?” Maxwell eagerly joined in the partisan love-fest:
It's just the kind of pure joy that you can only feel when you finally see yourself reflected in the halls of power. I think that for so long women everywhere, particularly us since 2016 and that trauma we experienced, have been a little bit low and feeling anxious in covid and anxious in this Trump era. I think this is the ultimate validation that women and particularly black women should be in positions of power. there's a phrase, Chris, black girl magic. It's an affirmation that black women are prepared, we're excellent, we’re hard working. I think what Joe Biden did yesterday by selecting Kamala Harris; it was the ultimate validation of that truth, that black women are prepared, we're precise and we’re ready to lead. We empower this party through our votes and our organizing. Now we're going to do so by being the second in command if they should go on to win the election.
But historian Jon Meacham saved the best for last, making sensational proclamations about Harris and getting way ahead of himself in the process:
This is an immensely important moment not just for Senator Harris but possibly for the next generation of American politics writ large....It is quite possible that Nixon, Bush, Gore, Biden, quite possible that we will be discussing Senator Harris in that sense, in that context for years to come because she does represent, not necessarily a new America. I always resist that because America has always been diverse, but it's the first time in a long time we have fully recognized that diversity.
The country itself, as we understand it today, is about 55 years old. One of the things about the Trump presidency is it is a reaction to the reality of that -- what I would think of as almost Harris's America.
Harris’s America? That’s a stretch. The media might want it to be that way, but they might want to focus on this election, not the ones after that.
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Click "expand" to read the transcript.
MSNBC’s Live
8-12-20
11:32 AM ET
CHRIS JANSING: His one-time rival is now Joe Biden's selection. Kamala Harris in an SUV right now on her way from Washington, D.C. To meet with Joe Biden for the first time since he chose her as his running mate. I'm Chris Jansing. Having a few technical problems with Craig Melvin. He may or may not be back in this final half hour of his program. More to talk about history being made with Zerlina Maxwell, MSNBC political analyst and Senior Director of Progressive Programming for Sirius XM radio, she is also Director of Progressive Media for the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign and historian John Meacham also an MSNBC contributor, he’s the author of "His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and The Power of Hope," a new biography with an afterward by John Lewis. Great to see both of you. Zerlina, I don't know many women's phones who weren't blowing up after yesterday. Tell me about the aftermath. What went through your mind and what's your reaction?
ZERLINA MAXWELL: It's just the kind of pure joy that you can only feel when you finally see yourself reflected in the halls of power. I think that for so long women everywhere, particularly us since 2016 and that trauma we experienced, have been a little bit low and feeling anxious in covid and anxious in this trump era. I think this is the ultimate validation that women and particularly black women should be in positions of power. I think, you know, there's a phrase, Chris, black girl magic. It's an affirmation that black women are prepared, we're excellent, we’re hard working. I think what Joe Biden did yesterday by selecting Kamala Harris; it was the ultimate validation of that truth, that black women are prepared, we're precise and we’re ready to lead. We empower this party through our votes and our organizing. Now we're going to do so by being the second in command if they should go on to win the election. That is a powerful moment.
(...)
JON MEACHAM: It's essential on all sorts of levels and I'd like to give her credit and take her as the best person, not just the best woman who happened to be in the mix here, and when you think about that historically. This is an immensely important moment not just for Senator Harris but possibly for the next generation of American politics writ large. These decisions often go astray. There are a lot of unmemorable vice presidential candidates. But every once in a while, this is a vital decision. When Dwight Eisenhower picked Richard Nixon, that set up a generation of politics. When Ronald Reagan at the very last minute picked George Herbert Walker Bush, that set almost 30 years of American politics, cause George W. Bush, he'll tell you this, would not have been president if his father did not have the journey he did. Al Gore wins the popular vote after serving as vice president, and Biden who is now in this position to be a stabilizing force at a particularly destabilizing moment. It is quite possible that Nixon, Bush, Gore, Biden, quite possible that we will be discussing Senator Harris in that sense, in that context for years to come because she does represent, not necessarily a new America. I always resist that because America has always been diverse, but it's the first time in a long time we have fully recognized that diversity.
(...)
JANSING: I'm so glad you brought up the women's March because there was a palpable sense with you, obviously, Zerlina, with so many of the women I talked to out there in Washington, that this was a moment. This was a real moment, this was a change moment, but I also remember, John, I'm old enough to have been a journalist when Geraldine Ferraro was chosen as the vice presidential nominee back in 1984. There was that sense, too, talking to women, this is going to be a game-changer for women I thought at the time. Maybe I even said it on the air. We are within striking distance of having a woman president. And clearly I'm not the best prognosticator, certainly wasn't back then. How different is this moment than then?
MEACHAM: It's different because of the great point about the end of white politics which is a very important argument that's made in my colleague's book. I commend it to everybody. It's important, and I would argue since I have to do a dork jag to stay on brand. Here is my dork jag for the morning. Senator Harris even chronologically signifies the most important shift that's unfolding in American life, it seems to me. She was born in 1964 between roughly the civil rights act of '64 and the voting rights act of 1965. We have a lot of debate now in this country about should we date the founding of the country from 1619 or 1776 or 1787 or 1865. I propose that at least for our, at least it's fun to think about, we're really only about as old as Senator Harris is, as a nation state that we understand that is real to us. Here’s why.
Before 1965, millions of Americans were systematically denied the protections of the 14th and 15th amendments to the constitution. Voting rights, civil rights began to widen that mainstream. Hadn't done enough yet but it boosts progress. A bill we don't talk about much which was the 1965 immigration act. That was a huge part of a great society. President Johnson signed it. It doesn't get a lot of attention. It shifted the nature of the country, the complex of the country in that it undone the 1924 early stuff about national quotas which is what kept us in many ways legally from accepting refugees from Hitler's Germany. So it's a big moment in 1965, a big moment of inclusion, of opportunity and, more importantly, of access for all. Rightful access for all. I think, if you look at her, she's 55 I think. The country itself, as we understand it today, is about 55 years old. One of the things about the Trump presidency is it is a reaction to the reality of that -- what I would think of as almost Harris's America.
