‘In Sanskrit, Kamala means lotus. In America, Kamala means POTUS’
I owe it to my friend @Sree for posting about a fantastic new way to explain what Kamala Harris might come to mean for the United States. And then Abhay Dandekar, “MD 🎙️ Conversationalist”, wrote to me to say he “created this graphic on Monday and it’s gone viral”.
As well it might. “In Sanskrit, Kamala means lotus,” reads the first line on the T-shirt in the photo. “In America, Kamala means POTUS”.
“In Sanskrit, Kamala means lotus,” reads the first line on the T-shirt in the photo Sree posted on Threads. “In America, Kamala means POTUS”.
POTUS, acronym for President of the United States.
It’s a remarkable way to rebrand Ms Harris, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. That’s an inspired, really poetic way to explain Kamala’s origin story and her attempt to create an historic new story for herself and her country.
But can Kamala really come to mean POTUS for America?
Ed Luce, the observant and perspicacious US editor and columnist of the Financial Times notes the rapidity with which her “capture of the Democratic crown has changed the political weather. A funereal Democratic party has rediscovered its zest”.
Other analysts say, correctly I think, that there is a sense of “fun” now in an election campaign that felt, until recently, like a “death march”.
That does not, of course, mean Ms Harris will win. She is a woman of colour, one who married late and is childless. She has had some missteps, misspeaks and missing-in-action moments, as might be expected of anyone anywhere. But they will be raised and memed and endlessly disseminated in the 104 days until election day, November 5.
Ms Harris offers enough for Donald Trump and his Republicans to go on the attack. Mr Trump’s running mate J D Vance has already branded Ms Harris a “childless cat lady”. That said, as X-poster Janey Godley has noted, “No president of America has ever given birth — I don’t understand why it’s suddenly an issue”.
Enough said.
Originally published at https://www.rashmee.com
