Finally, a female VP isn't being set up to fail

Psychologists like to call this phenomenon the “glass cliff”—the idea that women are more likely to be elevated to executive leadership roles in periods of crisis, when they’re more likely to fail.

But this time is different. Unlike Mondale and McCain, Joe Biden is leading President Donald Trump in the polls and has a decent chance of winning in November. His choice of Harris is not a desperate ploy to save a flailing campaign. And this time, no one is hoping for her to pull off an impossible salvage job.

In fact, as historic as Harris is—she’s the first woman of color on a major party presidential ticket—Biden’s reasoning in picking her was fairly conventional: The choice is a nod to (and an attempt to energize) very important segments of the Democratic base, a signal about the future of the party, a recognition of what he lacks and a statement of his own values. Those are fairly standard VP checkboxes; for once, a female running mate has been approved by the same criteria that have boosted white males for centuries.

“In those other two races it felt like a novelty,” Walsh says. “And this time around it felt like, ‘Of course this is what he needs to do.’”