“If Vice President Kamala Harris seems like the answer, you’re probably asking the wrong question.”
That’s just as true now as it was in July when I wrote it.
At the time, Harris was being floated as a possible replacement on the ballot if President Joe Biden were to drop from the race, and then he dropped and endorsed her.
“Soon you’ll regret it,” I wrote.
But judging by the reaction since the election from Democrat elites and their sympathizers, they don’t regret it.
Instead, they think she lost because of racism and sexism and all their greatest hits.
“Democrats need to be mature, and they need to be honest, and they need to say ‘Yes’ there is misogyny,” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Wednesday morning. “But it’s not just misogyny from white men, it’s misogyny from Hispanic men, it’s misogyny from Black men… who do not want a woman leading them.”
If only someone had said that! Kidding, they did say that. A lot. It was an appeal made by many, including former President Barack Obama, who toured the country calling men sexist who weren’t head over heels for Harris.
I’m sure some men don’t want to see a woman president, but in the case of Harris it was more likely that she was just talking right past them.
Calling men sexist for having legitimate concerns over a bad candidate is not a winning strategy.
.In his comments Wednesday morning, Scarborough went on to say that these same white, Hispanic and black men were racist too – also not a winning strategy.
Harris flamed out of the Democratic primary in 2019 having won zero primaries. In fact, she had such low support that she dropped out before Iowa. As vice president, she had the lowest approval rating in history (which is saying a lot) in an unpopular Administration.
As a candidate, Harris failed to define herself, largely because she was scared of taking positions. For example, she refused to take a position on California’s Proposition 36, despite the fact that she had been the state’s Attorney General and is well versed in what it would do.
Harris campaigned as the change candidate, though she was unable to say one thing she’d do differently from her boss, Biden. Harris over-relied on abortion as an issue – another bad strategy.
The last week of the campaign was one of her best weeks and that was largely because she stuck to scripted moments and stayed out of sight the rest of the time.
Harris even did worse than Biden in California – in her home state!
Harris was a bad candidate – it’s hard to argue otherwise – and that had little to do with sexism or racism. In fact, saying such only drives people further away from her and from the Democratic Party, as we saw in the election results.
It’s true that there’s a double standard in this era, where Trump has gotten away with countless actions and comments that would have sunk any other candidate – but that double standard has been applied across the board, including party lines.
I hope this is a wake up for California Democrats in particular, but I won’t hold my breath. Gov. Gavin Newsom will see Harris’ defeat as the opportunity he’s been waiting for and will continue to use the governorship as merely a platform to run for higher office. Newsom is not likely to break from his dismal record of making pronouncements to generate headlines while solving no actual problems.
It’s going to be a long two years until Newsom is out of office.
On the other hand, I wish President-elect Trump the very best.
As I wrote last week, I would have preferred nearly anyone else (except Vice President Kamala Harris) and I did not think he should ever be president again.
But he will be president again, in a few months, having been elected with a significant, decisive victory, which means I have to move on with my life and support him until he gives me a reason not to.
I hope Trump uses his second term to shrink the federal budget deficit, shrink the federal debt and shrink the sprawling administrative state.
I hope that he resists the temptation to tamper with the Federal Reserve and implement counterproductive protectionist policies.
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I hope he cuts taxes across the board, instead of the nickel-and-dime promises he made during the campaign, like eliminating taxes on tips.
I hope he cuts the flow of illegal immigration, but does so with an abundance of compassion.
I hope he maintains a close relationship with Israel and fights his impulses to suck up to dictators across the world. Keeping us out of wars is ideal, but I’d like to see him do that without holding hands with dictators.
I was encouraged by his victory speech, which was as humble and gracious as he gets. I sincerely hope that he continues to be humble and gracious in his approach to governing. It’s so off-putting to watch Newsom and other California Democratic leaders demonize Republicans, of whom there are approximately five million living in California. It’s equally off putting to watch Trump demonize Democrats.
That bitter, partisan tribalism is a sign of the times, but for it to end someone needs to step up and be the bigger person. Why not Trump?
Matt Fleming is a columnist for the Southern California News Group.
Editor’s note: the print version of this column incorrectly claimed Harris failed to outperform Biden in a single county. This is incorrect. We regret the error.