Harris’s main problem strikes me as being mostly indescribable. It’s almost impossible to define why she turns so many people off. Yogi Berra, that great baseball philosopher, once had a line about how “If people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s gonna stop ’em.” That may be the best way to sum up Harris’s fundamental problem. No matter how hard they try to package the Kamala product, people—including Democratic voters in the 2020 primary—just haven’t been buying what she’s selling.

Yes, I’m sure there are some racists and sexists who oppose her for those reasons. Generally, though, to the degree her identity harms her, it’s because people have high hopes for her to be a transformational leader. There is a lot of pressure on Harris to be this amazing historical figure, and that’s a lot to live up to.

In today’s media environment, it helps for a president to be a true political athlete, and it just may be that Harris—despite having been given so many opportunities to shine—just doesn’t have it.

This reminds me of the NFL, where having an “elite” franchise quarterback seems to be key to winning, and yet, the track record for identifying which college QBs will rise to the occasion seems to be mixed, at best. Harris is like one of these players.