It Does Matter "Who," Democrats
It Does Matter "Who," Democrats
The Failure of the "Vote Blue No Matter Who" Mantra
Democrats failed with the "vote blue no matter who" mantra. It does matter who. Kamala Harris was not a skilled politician, and she never truly distanced herself from Joe Biden. Also, too much of her campaign focused on Donald Trump rather than on who she was, her vision for the future, and how she was going to help the working classes.
It'll be interesting to see if the Democrats learn anything from this; sadly, my guess is no. They will continue to run candidates who are basically moderate Republicans against hardline Republicans (Vance? Cotton? DeSantis?). Faced with that "choice," Americans will tend to vote for what's "real," Classic Coke rather than New Coke.
Which reminds me of this piece I wrote back on August 14th when I compared Kamala to New Coke. The comparison occurred to me because the DNC rolled out Kamala like she was a product rather than a person. It was all hype, no substance. All surface, no depth.
Here’s what I wrote back in August:
I’m old enough to remember when New Coke was introduced in 1985. Coke had been losing market share to Pepsi (you might remember all the “taste tests” back then that Coke was allegedly losing to Pepsi). So the execs made New Coke, a sweeter, blander, version of “old” Coke, and hired Bill Cosby (yes, that Bill Cosby, before we knew he was a sexual predator) to sell it to the world as the new and very much improved version.
It flopped.
I remember trying it soon after it came out. No matter what Bill Cosby said, few people liked it. They wanted the “old” Coke back, so Coca Cola had to save face by reintroducing it, rebranding it as “Classic Coke.”
I know it’s not a perfect analogy, but the New Kamala I’m being sold by the DNC (and many, many, others) reminds me of the New Coke sold to me by Bill Cosby back in 1985. A lot of hype, many millions thrown at advertising, but in the end I’m left with a bad taste in my mouth.
Coincidentally, I just saw this in my New York Times news feed this morning:
Today’s Videos
How Kamala Harris Found Her Footing in the Spotlight
*****
See what I mean? In the past, she’s been “uneven” and “prone to missteps” but now there’s a New Kamala who’s “found her footing.” How so?
To my knowledge, Kamala has yet to hold an unscripted press conference and has yet to sit for an extended interview. Yet she’s “found her footing” because she can attend political rallies and read from a teleprompter. Oh, and she’s brat!
She’s also good at telling genocide protesters to shut up, warning them that Trump will win if they continue to protest mass murder and atrocity in Gaza.
Kamala is being sold like a new and improved commodity by cynical sales people who’d make Bill Cosby look slightly less menacing and predatory.
Standard Disclaimer: This is in no way a promotion for another overhyped, oversold, and dangerous product, one commonly known as Trump.
One of the problems with the people who run the Democrat Party is they're used to having the MSM in their hip pocket. They think they can sell ice to Eskimos as the saying goes. Only this time the Eskimos said they'd rather have hot water heaters. I mean think of it. They veered off from running a guy with obvious dementia, in favor of a woman who had proven unpopular in getting voters to vote for her. And this is supposed to be the party of the "highly educated" people?? I guess education isn't all it's cracked up to be, if it causes you to lose common sense.
The 2 key ingredients Harris lacked were 1) charisma and 2) a message that resonated with the voters.
Charisma is necessary for a true leader. It is what makes people want to follow that person. Harris didn't have it. She didn't inspire. She was the candidate that the Party forced on the voters giving them no choice - and she got the votes she got because those voters didn't want Trump.
Other than her position on abortion and the fact that she was not Trump, she offered nothing of substance to the voters. She offered nothing that was going to improve the lives of average Americans. No solutions for issues like healthcare, global warming, education, homelessness, infrastructure, energy sufficiency, environmental destruction or money dominating politics. Furthermore she implicitly promised to continue supporting unpopular wars unleashed by her predecessor.
On the other hand, like it or not, Trump is a charismatic - and he had a message that implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) said "kick the bums out", which resonated with a large segment of the population who rightfully felt disenfranchised by the Democratic Party. It didn't really matter that there was nothing else of substance in Trump's message, that was sufficient - because voters were pissed off at what was being done and what was not being done by Democratic President (whose successor promised more of the same).
The bottom line is, you can't crap on people forever and get away with it. Sooner or later, they will rebel. The Democratic Party needs to learn that. (But I won't hold my breath.)