Pull up a chair for some almost surreal musings, served with a side of Doritos. This was the main course during Kamala Harris’ recent stint at a Las Vegas AI conference. Staggeringly, she managed to transform her discourse about DoorDash and affordable housing into a promotion of her favorite Dorito snack. All to the complete perplexity of the audience attending the prestigious HumanX conference.
Being a keynote speaker at the said event, Harris couldn’t help but revel in the limelight. She turned her conversation with Nuno Sebastiao, CEO of Feedzai, a data science firm, into a perplexing anecdote about her Oscar night exploits. Apparently, the urgency of not missing the red carpet showcase led her to exercise her DoorDash prowess for a Doritos refill.
Some might say, ‘All’s fair in love and Doritos,’ but spectators were left scratching their heads. This was the shining beacon of Democratic party in 2024 – unwilling to step out for a grocery run, but ready to relinquish her privacy for the simple fulfillment of a Doritos craving. As miniscule as it may seem, such details are valuable indicators of one’s judgment.
Sebastiao tried to salvage what seemed like an increasingly bizarre exchange by alluding to ‘consumer behavior’. Harris, unfazed, agreed. ‘That’s correct,’ she affirmed. However, she tried to elevate the discussion asserting that consumers’ rights must be highlighted and that they should expect innovations to help solve their everyday problems.
And this is where the narrative took a turn for the ludicrous. Harris’s generic spiel touched on everything from ‘scientific discoveries’ to ‘longstanding diseases’; all the while relegating her Doritos craving to a mere footnote in this grand monologue. A true display of trying to weave vast, complex issues into a tale about an Oscar night and a chip craving.
The next on her string of nonsensical comments was an eye-opener. Harris aired her wish list for an investment in solving America’s affordable housing crisis. No concrete plans, not even a hint of actionable steps, just a simple ‘Help me with this.’ We’re led to believe that this Doritos lover, sitting comfortably on Oscar night, truly understands the urgency and the acuteness of the housing crisis reality.
To top off the absurdity, she took her Doritos fetish to social media on the night of the Oscars, posing gleefully with her snack of choice. Perhaps to cement her **common touch**. But what followed was far from praise. People were not impressed.
A wave of ridicule washed over her. One critic harshly noted, ‘Kamala Harris tries to explain what scientific innovation looks like and it sounds like the dumbest thing imaginable. She’s three glasses of wine deep.’ Needless to say, her attempts at relatability were not well-received.
Another critic illustrated the oblivious relief of the election’s aftermath: ‘We dodged a missile, not a bullet.’ A harsh testament to the general apathy surrounding Harris’s leadership abilities.
In retrospect, Harris’s discourse was a perfect mirror reflecting her leadership: muddled, uninspiring, and detached from the realities of everyday Americans. Using a platform, dedicated to AI and innovation, to wax poetic about Doritos and DoorDash, is surely a new low for political discourse.
A potential gubernatorial run is rumored to be on Harris’s cards. One only shudders at the thought of her unity of Doritos and DoorDash being expanded into a political strategy for California. It’s alarming when thought leaders begin to blur the lines between actual governance and trivial snack preferences.
Harris’s Vegas speech is but an example of the disregard of important issues for the sake of personal anecdotes and tangential commentaries. Relegating the enormous problem of the housing crisis to the same league as a Doritos bag quest might win points on social media, but it does little in the grand arena of responsible leadership.
Narratives like these, that prioritize personal anecdotes over pressing problems, often blur the boundaries between a public leader’s true role. A simplistic ‘Help me with this’ simply won’t solve complex dilemmas.
The question remains: do we want our future to be shaped by leaders who place a Doritos delivery on par with housing issues? Harris’s recent musings are a stark reminder that the choice of our leaders should be based on their understanding of complexities, not their snack preferences.