DAN HODGES: Kamala’s bid will be seen through the prism of America’s toxic gender and race war. And it’s the liberal supporters who may prove her undoing…

American progressives think this is the game changer they’ve been hoping for.

“Total collapse!” bellowed MSNBC, as the liberal news outlet struggled – and failed – to contain its excitement at the realization that Kamala Harris was now her party’s presidential nominee.

“GOP and Trump panic on campaign trail as Vice President Kamala Harris motivates voters,” the network reported gleefully.

At the same time, Hollywood’s A-listers poured in to deliver their breathtaking displays of support. “We are all so excited to do whatever we can to support Vice President Harris in her historic quest,” George Clooney enthused to CNN.

They should all, to use a popular American saying, “temper their beam.”

In a glowing recommendation for Harris, actor George Clooney said, “We are all so excited to do everything we can to support Vice President Harris in her historic mission.”

Before Joe Biden’s dramatic but belated announcement that he was dropping out of the race, the Democratic hopes were going up in flames. Harris has merely plucked them from the fireplace and put them firmly back in the pan.

Donald Trump would have preferred to run against Biden. The obvious weakness of the ailing president would have forced the electorate to effectively exercise a proxy, rather than their democratic right to vote.

But soon the Trump attack machine will recalibrate. And since the central message was always going to be, “If you vote for Biden, he won’t serve a second term. You’re really handing Kamala Harris the keys to the White House,” it won’t take much adjustment before it starts crushing its new opponent.

And Harris will provide countless opportunities. Despite the manufactured hype of the past 72 hours, she has not proven herself to be a particularly effective campaigner.

She was one of the top-ranked candidates at the start of the 2019-2020 primaries, but her disappointing presidential bid forced her to withdraw before the opening caucuses in Iowa.

Her speeches are often tinged with an almost comical emptiness. “What can be, unburdened by what has been,” is her tiresome trademark phrase. She has also been criticized for her chaotic team management and high staff turnover, accompanied by accusations of bullying.

A second problem for Harris is that she is widely seen as a poor vice president. Her personal approval ratings have reached such staggering levels that interim reports suggested Biden’s team was considering dropping her altogether. And she has failed in the two major areas where she was given policy responsibility: immigration and national election reform.

All of this is reflected in the current polls. Harris enters the race slightly behind Trump in the national vote share, but with a more significant deficit in the key swing states she needs to secure the presidency.

A more detailed breakdown of the numbers paints an even more troubling picture. A CBS News poll from last week showed Harris leading Trump 52 percent to 47 percent among women voters, and 72 percent to 21 percent among Black voters. By comparison, Joe Biden won women 55 percent to 44 percent in 2020, and Black voters 92 percent to 8 percent.

If Harris were the sitting president, these numbers would be less troubling. But she has yet to enjoy the status that comes with occupying the White House. Trump—despite all the anarchy that surrounds him—is the known quantity. And she has yet to be exposed to the full glare of a national campaign.

And then there is the most significant problem. And that is how Harris’ bid for the world’s highest political office will be conducted through the poisonous prism of America’s ongoing war on race and gender.

When Barack Obama entered the White House race in 2012, he did so against an opponent in John McCain who was prepared to embrace defeat with dignity and in a far less culturally polarized climate. It won’t be the same for Harris as she takes on Trump and his MAGA army.

Donald Trump would have preferred to run against Joe Biden, writes Dan Hodges

At some point, Trump and his supporters will cross a line, and it will backfire on them, writes Dan Hodges

In the coming months, we will undoubtedly see overt sexism and racism on a scale not seen since the civil rights campaigns of the 1960s and 1970s. Harris will be successful in deflecting and redirecting much of it.

At some point, Trump and his supporters are going to cross a line, and it’s going to backfire on them. But in some of the more conservative swing states — Georgia, Florida, Arizona — it’s going to find some vicious traction.

Even more dangerous for Harris is the accusation that she is a “DEI hire” — a term used to describe someone selected for a position based on affirmative action based on “diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Part of the reason it’s problematic is that it’s partly true. Any objective reading of Harris’ resume would reveal that her time as a former U.S. senator, California attorney general, and San Francisco district attorney made her more than qualified for selection and promotion to her role as vice president.

Kamala Harris’ previous experience made her more than qualified for selection and promotion to her role as vice president for Mr Biden, writes Dan Hodges

But the reality is that she was selected specifically based on her gender and race. Joe Biden — whose father was a used car salesman in Pennsylvania — was himself selected by his party because of its need to appeal to working-class white men. He, in turn, needed someone who could balance the ticket and appeal to black voters who weren’t enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The other problem is that Harris’ liberal supporters will make the same mistake they always do: they will try to embrace their diversity and eat it up.

They’re already portraying Harris as the “glass ceiling-breaking” candidate, and are eagerly trying to put her gender and race first in her campaign. But when Trump’s team tries to do the same, the same people will then cheat.

Those tactics no longer work. Voters are no longer willing to bow to a progressive consensus that declares the most diverse candidate the best candidate and that anyone who dares to say otherwise is perpetuating prejudice.

So progressive America can enjoy its moment. But the best thing Kamala Harris has going for her is that she is not Joe Biden. And that is not enough.