Michelle Obama decries holding Harris to higher standard than rival Trump 

MICHIGAN – For three months, as US Vice-President Kamala Harris has pressed her case for the White House, some voters have insisted they just do not know enough about her.

Pundits have grumbled that she is light on specifics; journalists have lamented that she was not doing more interviews, or answering tougher questions, or answering easy questions more crisply. Her opponents have cast her as an “empty suit”, a lightweight with dangerous ideas.

Political star Michelle Obama, wife of former US president Barack Obama, was fed up.

At a rally in Michigan on Oct 26, the former First Lady reflected, with palpable disbelief and outrage, on the double standard she believes Ms Harris faces.

“When you lay out the options, this choice isn’t even close,” Mrs Obama told the crowd. “But whether it’s online or in the media or in our social circles, there are folks who say they’re not sure about Kamala. They accuse her of not providing enough policy detail. Some wonder: Do we really know her? Is she too aggressive? Is she not aggressive enough? There are folks sowing seeds of doubt about whether she’s who she appears to be.

“Voters have every right to ask hard questions of any candidate seeking office,” she continued. “But can someone tell me why we are once again holding Kamala to a higher standard than her opponent?”

The question suggested an impatience not just with this campaign, but with the entire political career of former US president Donald Trump, and the perception that he has now twice competed against accomplished female politicians who faced scrutiny and doubts that Trump, time and again, is allowed to escape.

Mrs Obama and other prominent Democrats are now, in the final stretch of the campaign, giving voice to a frustration that has animated many of Ms Harris’ supporters from the get-go.

Some frame it explicitly as a matter of race and gender; others argue that the imbalance is ultimately a function of Trump, whose unfettered political style and erratic speechifying have defied conventions and confounded efforts to hold him responsible, accountability lost in a fog of euphemism.

Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential race to Trump, has, in part, attributed voter hesitation to sexism.

“It’s a double standard that is partly because they are still getting to know her,” Mrs Clinton said on a podcast in September. “But also because they’re still grappling with the idea like, ‘Oh, am I really going to vote for a woman to be president and commander-in-chief?’”

Even the idea that voters might still be “getting to know her” clearly rankled Mrs Obama. “Michigan, do not buy into the lie that we do not know who Kamala is or what she stands for,” she said on Oct 26.

The notion of a double standard was discussed on Oct 27 at a panel of Black Democratic women in a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama, where Representative Jasmine Crockett of Texas expressed aggravation at the perceived imbalance.

“We’ve got one candidate that’s allowed to be lawless while the other one has to be flawless,” she said, as the crowd of predominantly women murmured in agreement.

“They’re not taking the same test. One has the remedial test. It has extra time and all of the extra things, whereas she’s taking the AP (Advanced Placement) test.”

Ms Tamika Reed, a lawyer and investment banker who is married to the mayor of Montgomery, framed her frustration explicitly in terms of race and gender.

“We’re defending the competency of a woman who is phenomenal, in and of itself, and who puts forth everything that any black female would strive to be,” she said. “We are at the stage where we’re having to defend that against a convicted felon.”

Trump supporters, including some commentators who acknowledge his inarticulate free associations, say the real double standard at work is a liberal press that gives Ms Harris a free pass while seizing on every utterance of Trump as evidence of a slipping mind, or fascist inclinations, or criminality.

In September, after a second assassination attempt on Trump, his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, assailed the media in a post on the social media platform X for what he described as a “breathtaking” double standard, downplaying the threat to Trump while blaming the Republican ticket for the impact of violent rhetoric.

Many of the questions Ms Harris has faced are not unusual for major political campaigns. She has repeatedly been asked to explain her change of heart on issues such as fracking, and her record as district attorney in San Francisco.

She has been criticised for not speaking more precisely about the war in the Gaza Strip. And she has been questioned about her role in the Biden administration’s policy on the southern border.

But when reporters note her weaknesses in interviews, or when voters say they need more information about her policy positions, Ms Harris’ supporters throw up their hands. To them, Trump’s very candidacy, after he was impeached for inciting insurrection, seems unfathomable.

Ms Harris herself has taken pains to avoid discussing any disparity. In an interview on the hip-hop morning radio show The Breakfast Club in October, the host, whose professional name is Charlamagne Tha God, accused the news media of acting like Trump’s was “a normal candidacy”, and making false equivalencies.

“What do you think of the double standard?” he asked Ms Harris. “And is it frustrating for people to say you’re not fit for office, but he is?”

“I can’t let frustration get in the way of doing what I need to do right now,” Ms Harris said.

Host Charlamagne has since made the argument to the news media itself, including in a testy exchange last week with CNN host Anderson Cooper.

“Whenever somebody like Colin Kaepernick takes a knee in this country, everybody talks about, ‘Oh, that’s so unpatriotic’,” he said, referring to the black former National Football League quarterback who was castigated for kneeling during the national anthem.

“But a guy can say he wants to terminate the Constitution to overthrow the results of an election, and nobody cares?”

He returned to a question from Mr Cooper about whether Ms Harris would appear on a hostile podcast. “Even me bringing it up now, you brought it back to Kamala and Joe Rogan. Who gives a (expletive)?”

“Nobody’s had an honest conversation about Donald Trump since 2016,” he said to a flustered Mr Cooper. “There’s always a double standard with Trump.”

Ms Harris herself may not have the luxury of frustration – this itself, of course, might be considered a central component of the double standard – but Mrs Obama does.

She is one of the most beloved members of the Democratic Party. And, with her husband’s political career behind her, she can afford to let loose, even if it means pointedly criticising the public.

On Oct 26, she did not outright accuse anybody of racism or sexism, but she made it clear she saw these forces lurking beneath the surface.

“We expect her to be intelligent and articulate, to have a clear set of policies, to never show too much anger, to prove time and time again that she belongs,” Mrs Obama said.

“But for Trump, we expect nothing at all. No understanding of policy, no ability to put together a coherent argument, no honesty, no decency, no morals.”

She opened up a biting critique of Trump, and of those who shrug him off as funny or harmless. “Too many people are willing to write off his childish, mean-spirited antics by saying, ‘Well, Trump’s just being Trump,’ rather than question his horrible behaviour,” she said.

“I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m a little frustrated that some of us are choosing to ignore Donald Trump’s gross incompetence, while asking Kamala to dazzle us at every turn.”

Ms Harris is leaving it to her surrogates and supporters to argue about the fairness of the game. Speaking on an airport tarmac in Washington, DC, on Oct 28, as she prepared to fly to Michigan again, a reporter mentioned Mrs Obama’s remarks and asked: “Do you feel like you’ve had to clear a higher bar every day than Donald Trump?”

Ms Harris did not address the issue directly. She said: “My role and responsibility running for president of the United States is to make my case to the American people and to earn their support.” NYTIMES