Seven Things that Went Wrong for Kamala Harris

Even as I "completed the assignment" and cast my vote for Kamala Harris as President of the United States yesterday, my optimism about her becoming the first female POTUS was already beginning to fade, and I was preparing myself for another Donald Trump presidency. However, even I wasn't expecting Trump to not only win the Electoral College but also (at least at the time I am writing this) the popular vote as well.

On the surface, it seems absolutely unbelievable considering Harris endorsements from key media outlets and celebrities and the number of former Republicans and Trump employees who warned the American public about the former president. Yet, with some reflection, it becomes clear Harris had some things working against her.

Joe Biden. I have all the respect in the world for anyone who has served as POTUS (even Trump) and Biden is no exception to that. However, his decision to run for re-election then drop out put Harris at a serious disadvantage from the start. Not only did she need to win over her own party and convince them she wasn't just being chosen as Biden's replacement out of convenience, but Harris also had considerably less time to get her message across to the voters.

And let's face it, the sitting POTUS only made things worse when he tried to help. His "Trump supporters are garbage" comment, no matter how much spin was put on it, was ill-advised and horribly timed. Instead on being able to end her campaign with a message of unity, Harris instead had to distance herself from the remark while Trump turned it against her.

Her failure to separate herself from Biden. This is related to the above. It's one thing to ride the shirttails of a popular president but Biden's approval rating has been somewhere in the 30s. Yet, when given multiple opportunities to discuss how she would do things differently from her predecessor, Harris failed to capitalize, making it easy to claim she was just an extension of Biden's unpopular presidency. 

To be fair, she was walking a tight line with that because the last thing she wanted to do was insult or diminish the POTUS, but it allowed Trump and his allies to attack her by attacking Biden when she metaphorically had one hand tied behind her back.

Inflation.  As a man with a wife and two daughters, I care about reproductive rights, especially since I live in a state that has a strict abortion ban on the books. That said, I spent $40 at the grocery store a couple days ago and came out with only one shopping bag. All issues are important but are less prioritized when you're worried about feeding your family.

Is it all Biden/Harris' fault? No. However, the burden still fell on her to prove she'd be able to bring the prices down while also facing questions about why those efforts weren't be made sooner.

Israel. This was a no-win scenario for Harris. While the United States is obligated to support an ally in a war with a terrorist group, Israel's constant attacks on civilians meant that support alienated many Muslim-Americans, including those in key battleground states like Michigan. On the flip side, rolling back that support would alienate Jewish voters.

At the same time, this gave Harris an opportunity to show what kind of president she would be by actively participating in cease fire discussions. Had she succeeded, maybe the outcome would have been different. Instead, the fighting continues, and the war is at risk of expanding.

Immigration. How much of an issue is this? I was standing in line to vote yesterday and the woman in front of me, unprompted, said "I sure do hope they keep those illegals from voting."

This once again is a Biden failure that impacted Harris. As his vice president, she became the scapegoat for her failures as his "border czar." This in turn put Harris on the defensive, trying to downplay and accurately describe her role, making herself seem weaker in the process.

And yes, there was a bi-partisan border bill that failed because of Donald Trump's interference. However, even as a Harris supporter, I would point out that bill came much too late in Biden's presidency and Trump's ability to get even the bill's authors to vote against it arguably made him seem like a stronger candidate.

Reproductive Rights. While on the surface, this would seem like a strength for her campaign, it was in reality also a double-edged sword. Right off the bat, it was something that was going to cost her votes based on religious views. In addition to that, she was fighting against history, with the Democrats' failure to codify Roe v. Wade under Barack Obama looming over her head and an unclear path to restoring those rights if the Democrats didn't have a majority in Congress. 

Also, while the whole "you don't need to vote the same way as your husband," campaign seemed clever, I suspect it might have also insulted a large number of women as well.

Racism and Sexism. In a perfect world, Harris' gender and skin color wouldn't matter. We don't live in a perfect world though. People may claim those two things weren't a factor in their decision but let's be honest, there were people who voted against her as a result of it.

Some have even suggested her VP choice of Tim Walz was evidence her campaign understood this element and balanced things out by adding a white male to the ticket. Had this not been the case, she could have shaken things up by having a Jewish VP candidate like Josh Shapiro, a female VP candidate like Gretchen Whitmer or a gay VP candidate like Pete Buttigieg. 

In the end, history was made last night but in no small part because of these things, it was a different kind of history being made.