Are Americans ready for a woman president?

Vice President Kamala Harris’ entry into the 2024 US presidential election reinvigorates once again the Democratic Party.

If elected, Harris will etch her name in history as the first woman president of the United States of America, a milestone that was narrowly missed in 2016 by Hillary Clinton's defeat to former president Donald Trump.

Will racism get in the way of her getting elected? We don’t know. What we know is that a similar fear existed when Barack Obama ran for president: that it was difficult for him to win because of racism. He won, anyway.

In the area of electing women, I believe we are a bit ahead of America. We already had two women presidents, namely, the late president Corazon Cojuanco Aquino and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. USA has not had a woman president since its inception.

Former president Donald Trump has remained politically strong. Despite all the charges hurled against him, including the kitchen sink, he was ahead of President Joe Biden practically in all surveys for the 2024 presidential election.

His disastrous performance in their first debate last month made matters worse for Biden. He was at a loss on what to say next. He stammered. There was nothing that he said that was comprehensible. His critics pointed out that it was a clear sign of cognitive decline.

Calls from within his own party for him to withdraw from the race quickly followed. Imagine his very own partymates, 30 congressmen and four senators, calling him to withdraw from the race. He ignored those voices for a while until he saw that the path to victory not only dimmed but also became invisible.

Democrats wasted no time to rally behind Kamala Harris. Party stalwarts, such as Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, et al, expressed support for her. There’s a groundswell of support, particularly from black women.

After a year or two of a lifeless campaign to persuade the American public to reelect Joe Biden, the Democrats found their excitement and energy to get out and vote.

Nobody can underestimate Harris. She is highly articulate. The world saw how she sharply grilled witnesses when she was a senator. On stage or any platform, she could go toe to toe with Trump.

However, she is primarily seen by some as a radical leftist, an image that she must temper by choosing a vice president who is not seen as a radical leftist or somebody who is somehow a centrist. Remember that Biden was seen as a centrist, so to cast a wide net, he chose Harris as his vice president. In politics, winning is a top priority.

But do not count the rest of the Democrats out yet. There is still a party convention that will determine who will eventually be the party’s standard bearer. Not a few Democrats want former first lady Michelle Obama to run. It is said that she leads Trump in surveys by double digits. That’s another exciting development to watch.