Not 24 hours after Joe Biden stepped down to make way for his Vice President Kamala Harris to become the likely Democratic presidential nominee, Nate Cohn at the New York Times is already harshing our buzz by reminding us that victory in the November election will not be a walk in the park for Kamala. Surely her nomination is not in doubt, as we have seen a number of high-profile Democrats, many of whom would have been considered viable candidates in their own right, endorse her. Though we are not sure what process the party will put in place to nominate her, there is little doubt we are looking at a Harris-Trump match-up. It is also absolutely true and, frankly, obvious that this will be a tough election.
Cohn makes the perfectly reasonable case that “the majority of voters have long had an unfavourable view” of Kamala Harris, just as they have had an unfavourable view of Biden. Still, he says, as recently as a year ago many Democrats were not particularly concerned about their unpopularity because they saw the election as a referendum on democracy itself and Trump’s obvious authoritarian impulses. They believed that American’s would understand this and that an “anti-MAGA” majority would reject Donald Trump.
A deeper dive, as Cohn points out, shows that there is surely more to it. For example, recent polling has suggested that, beyond Biden’s age, a majority of voters are not happy with the direction of the country and have deeply held concerns with issues such as immigration and the economy, areas in which many voters seem to trust Trump more. Kamala Harris was a key part of Biden’s team and can be easily blamed for any perceived failings of the Administration so, again, no walk in the park.
Mr Cohn does suggest that Kamala Harris could be seen as an agent of change able to present a vision for the country that successfully addresses concerns voters may have. He does not, however, seem overly optimistic.
I think he misses a key point.
When news began to circulate that Joe Biden was going to do the very brave and noble thing of stepping down for the good of his country, there was not only a sense of relief but also of excitement, almost giddiness that now Americans terrified of another Trump Presidency would have a fighting chance.
After Trump’s truly awful acceptance speech at the GOP convention, many pundits said that his rambling incoherence was proof that he was beatable. There is an old saying, however, that you can’t beat something with nothing, and many of us felt that with Biden at the top of the ticket that was the problem. In the June 27th debate, every time Trump would lie, more than 30 times according to CNN fact checker Daniel Dale, we could see for ourselves that President Biden was not capable of offering a challenge. In subsequent appearances, which were intended to quell our concerns, we were never quite sure what he was trying to tell us.
Of course we don’t know what the outcome of the election will be; we don’t know how Kamala Harris will perform, but we know we have a chance. The overwhelming sense that I felt and that I think was shared by many others when we heard that Biden was stepping down was excitement and even fun at the prospect of taking on Trump effectively.
The Biden Administration has a good record to run on; they are on the winning side of issues like reproductive rights and foreign policy, and Kamala Harris will be able to draw attention to the terrifying policies that we are likely to get with four more years of Trump, such as those promoted in Project 2025.
For the first time in a while, it’s fun and exciting being a Democrat, and that’s the sort of thing that opens checkbooks, draws volunteers, gets people to their polling stations and wins elections now that we have something to fight with.
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