Kamala Harris: How her hype can revive democracy

In 2008, Barack Obama was a US Senator from Illinois. He had only been in office for a few years; before that, he had worked as a social worker in Chicago. Of course, he had written a successful book and was considered a good speaker. But Obama was a fairly inexperienced politician.

It is important to write this soberly because Obama was not often seen in such a differentiated way in 2008. And because mentioning something like that would have seemed almost blasphemy to many observers at the time. His election did not simply seem like a victory, it seemed like the fulfillment of a collective heart’s desire.

Obama did a good job as president in the White House, but looking back, his record is mediocre at best. Now a similar hype is being sparked around Kamala Harris. She is being celebrated as a savior. The designated Democratic presidential candidate is suddenly cool on the internet, and world pop stars want to sing for her. Tim Walz, her chosen vice president, is being hailed as a great choice – an ex-teacher, but apparently one of those people always wanted. And isn’t Donald Trump already very nervous, which is why he is openly insulting Harris and Walz?

Of course, the hype surrounding Harris is unjustified. She was not a very successful senator, not a very successful presidential candidate in the 2019 primaries, and a barely noticeable vice president.

Nevertheless, this euphoria is democratically valuable. The political system in the United States has incredible weaknesses, starting with the influence of money. But it can also be incredibly inspiring. This enthusiasm has been lost. Thanks to Trump, who clearly only cares about himself. And thanks to Joe Biden, who in the end only seemed to care about his own monument. Now at least it seems as if something is at stake again. Let’s let many Americans celebrate this at least for a short time – and let’s celebrate with them. We can be disillusioned soon enough.

Anyone who wants to get away from the noise of the world is in good hands with Jonathan Franzen. The star author lives in Santa Cruz, not far from San Francisco, and looks out into the distance from his terrace. “A large part of my life is an attempt to turn down everything that comes at me,” Franzen told my colleague Viorica Engelhardt and me in star-Conversation. But the man who misses America so precisely in his novels doesn’t always manage to do that, of course. That’s why he also told us how he briefly “hated” Joe Biden, and that he wouldn’t be completely unhappy if Trump had a stroke. At the same time, it turned out that the man who has sold millions of books hasn’t written a line for months. “I’m already retired. The new novel isn’t developing. Since April, I’ve only been writing emails.” Franzen reads a lot, he watches birds, his great hobby. We would have loved to sit with him on the terrace.

A year ago, research by star and RTL News about the adverse working conditions at the Tesla factory in Brandenburg. Politically, hardly anything has happened since then. But what is happening on the market should be of interest to the market economist Elon Musk. He is apparently becoming a business risk with his controversial political statements. According to a Forsa survey for the star almost half of the German citizens are correct.