The most intriguing reading to be taken out of Kamala Harris’ book, 107 Days, is between the lines. The narrowly beaten presidential candidate flags shortcomings of an otherwise-achieving Biden/Harris presidency, as well as paths going forward that need be taken.
The Vice President was given just over three months to put together a campaign. No time to road test themes. No space to reassemble an Obama coalition rooted in inspiring tough-to-turn-out younger and low-income constituents.
The result was a seat-of-the-pantsuit campaign. Nonetheless, Harris and her managers, on election eve, felt they had pulled it off. Instead, the swing states were lost with Democratic vote percentages stuck in the high 40s.
On July 4th that year, in the wake of President Biden’s disastrous debate performance, the Bidens invited Veep and spouse as White House guests to watch the fireworks. Jill Biden took Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff aside for a grilling: Was Kamala sufficiently loyal to Joe? To which an exasperated Emhoff unloaded on the limited role that the insular, long-running Biden inner circle had given its Vice President: “They hide you away for four years, give you impossible jobs, don’t correct the record when those tasks are mischaracterized, never fight back when you are attacked.”
Biden appears to have developed genuine affection for Harris, but the reader detects an undercurrent of bitterness at his being driven from the race. On the eve of Harris’ lone debate with Trump, she received an unnerving phone call from Biden, saying unnamed powerbrokers in Philadelphia were upset at her campaign. Other such deflating incidents peppered the campaign.
Of course, the chief obstacle was the 81-year-old incumbent. Harris is tactful: “Sleepy Joe got tired,” she writes, leading to “physical and mental stumbles.” The chief burden and plea, of course: “I didn’t have enough time.”
The parliamentary system is brutal with leaders who are losing it. British and Canadian prime ministers, from Margaret Thatcher to Justin Trudeau, are shown the door. In America, it’s just the opposite. Party loyalty is the governing maxim.
Hence the Bidens and a tight inner circle pressed on. Harris picks a descriptive word, “recklessness,” and elaborates: “The stakes were simply too high. This was a choice that shouldn’t have been left to an individual’s ego and individual’s ambition.”
American presidential campaigns have turned into marathons. The pick of a vice presidential nominee is the stuff of ceaseless vetting, to which Harris delivers a fascinating account. She had a preferred choice in Pete Buttigieg, but his gayness was a blocking issue. Writes Harris: “We were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman and a black woman, married to a Jewish man. But knowing what was at stake, [picking Buttegieg] was too high a risk.”
Faced with the urgency of now, selection became a matter of instinct. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro had, uncomfortably, eyes on the top spot rather than second banana. Instead, the choice went to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who merrily attacked Trump but attracted no additional support to the ticket.
Therein lies another problem for the Democrats, who have concentrated fire on Trump while not spelling out a positive alternative, particularly to bypassed regions of the country. The party has become enmeshed in identity politics, notably for Washington State Democrats.
The organized chant went up at Harris’ rallies: “We’re not going back!” What, then, was the path forward? Harris has always been difficult to pin down on policy. She’s had one foot in the party’s moderate ranks — a self-described “tough prosecutor” — the other foot being that of a Berkeley-bred progressive.
The campaign’s message, she acknowledges, was defensive: “Don’t let the other guy win.” Not a turnout booster, and it meant that Harris herself became a target as a stand-in for an unpopular president. “People hate Joe Biden,” David Plouffe, the Obama campaign manager, told her. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators dogged her, leading Harris to ask: “Why weren’t they protesting at Trump rallies?”
Which leads us to Trump, the Godzilla of American politics. He showered praise on Harris in their one private conversation after the assassination attempt. “I readied myself for a conversation with Mr. Hyde but Dr. Jekyll picked up the phone,” she writes. In public, he called her a bitch.
“He’s a con man: He’s really good at it,” Harris concludes. The nation is finding that out on a daily basis, and Harris’s book helps us to understand.
This article also appears in Cascadia Advocate.
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I’m glad you addressed the “identity politics” of Washington state Democrats. I attended an event last night in Tacoma where that was the focus of the majority of the presentation. The speakers were a checklist of ethnicities. And yet there was an entire lack of diversity on point-of-view.
Please do a column or six on this!
Before going down that road, you are suggesting that these speakers were chosen because of their diversity, without real proof that that was the case.
Thanks to sleepy Joe and Atty. General ‘judge’ Garland Trump’s post-election antics were left to others. Should Biden/Garland have followed the facts that led to January 6, phone call with Georgia Secretary of State, ‘ I only need 11K votes’, or the fake electors. Prosecutors is NYC, New York State and Georgia failed miserably by giving Trump the ‘gift’ of weaponization of the legal system. By 2026 independent voters will be fed up with Trump’s recklessnes and cruelty –
Assuming the Democrats can suspend the circular firing squad, and win back the House. I’m hopeful that a Governor will emerge as the Democrat candidate in 2028 likely running against J.D.Vance . -Think Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, or Gov Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania or Governor Gavin Newsom of California will take us out of this dark period of history.
There is a dynamic at work here in that Baby Boom generation just doesn’t seem to know how to mentour and hand over responsibility to a younger generation. Regardless of party affiliation, we see it time and time again that capable and ambitious younger politicians are stymied by a generation that continues to hold onto power.
One can appreciate the knowledge and skill that comes with age, but at the same time those lived experiences can constrain one’s views of the possible. At some point, you need to let a younger generation decide priorities that will set the path for theirs and future generations.
Our state’s own two senators are senior citizens. Patty Murray in 75. Maria Cantwell is 66. While I applaud their service and believe that they have represented Washington well, the story of Joe Biden is that parties need to have the difficult talk with candidates when it is time to retire.