Kamala Harris for President

No-lose situation for the Democratic National Committee

Disclaimer: This is not an endorsement for any candidate, just a commentary from a fiercely nonpartisan political observer. 

Clearly the only path forward for the Democratic National Committee is to nominate Vice President Kamala Harris to head the ticket. It’s a no-lose scenario for the Democratic Party.  As a candidate for the presidency, Harris provides a glimmer of hope that the national nightmare of polarization can come to an end. 

Hear me out, please. 

Polling confirms that 70% of American voters don’t want Donald Trump or Joe Biden as president. President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from consideration as president eliminates half of that situation. Weirdly, the group that likes neither (I am one of them) went from being “swing-state independents” to “Double Haters” in the current media lexicon. 

Suppose Harris runs on a platform of “Not Trump” - a humble approach saying that she is stepping in to provide an alternative to another Trump term. Impress that she listened to American voters and offers the choice they have clamored for – she is neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump. This is a narrow path to an electoral college win, but the only one available. Low odds are better than no odds. Joe Biden’s “Sudden Onset Dementia” that “surprised” his faithful does not make people want Donald Trump any more than they did before the debate. Hit that fact, hit it hard, and don’t waver. 

Harris must stay on message. Relentlessly pressing to make the entire contest a referendum on Donald Trump. As a candidate, she will have the opportunity to laser focus on Trump’s behavior between the election of 2020 and Joe Biden’s inauguration. If she gets into a substantive fight over inflation, the border, or wars she will allow Trump to cover his most obvious examples of not understanding the job of president.

Trump will commit many errors all on his own. Let him do that without the exaggerated tales. 

She has a golden opportunity to dismiss the notion that lawfare was a good strategy. Simply say, “We can’t worry about those cases now. The wheels of justice turn slowly, right now we have one focus and that is prevent a return of Donald Trump to the oval office. Let’s do that by voting.” The crazed hyper-coverage of nonsense cases abusing the judicial system will disappear from the established media ecosystem overnight. These cases are apt to die anyway, so Harris could make it a political win for her party.

Vice President Harris will face a barrage of opposition and insult from Donald Trump and his surrogates. She should not engage. Simply, “I may not be perfect in every way, and maybe I am not every one’s ideal candidate, but I am the choice that keeps the USA from Donald Trump. I will faithfully defend the constitution and execute the laws of the United States.” And then pivot to the actual events of Mr. Trump not welcoming the new president to the White House, 187 minutes of inaction while Capitol was under attack, and threats to his own Vice President. There is no dispute and no contextualization of these observable facts.

Refrain from the futile “save our democracy” “convicted felon” and other sloganeering. No one has missed these messages and Trump is still up a whopping 6% as of this writing. The people riled up with the catch phrases are already solid Democratic voters. Harris needs to reach those in the reasonable middle. Keep it simple: “The last time Donald Trump was in the office of the president; this is what he did. Do we as a country want to pick up where he left off? Putting him back in the office he refused to leave?”  

Insist on discipline from supporters. The pee tape and other hoaxes didn’t work, won’t work the next time, and people are tired of them. Zealous supporters in the FBI, comic writing by 51 intelligence heads and coordinated censoring of social media didn’t work either. Don’t do that stuff. 

And Vice President Harris, win or lose, could make her mark in history by insisting that Donald Trump’s voters are not to be attacked. Extend an olive branch, kill them with kindness, “I promise to listen, try to understand and be a good President for those that voted for me or preferred another candidate.” 

Harris either wins or loses the election. In either case, the Democrats win. 

Obviously if she gains the presidency, then the Democrats will have to govern, potentially with a Republican House and Senate. Maybe she sees the country is exhausted by the hyper partisanship and things improve. Having secured the presidency by ending the polarization, she resists her own party and governs that way. She calls off the lawfare and extends an olive branch to GOP Senate and House. President Harris just did the job that many Republicans would not or could not do, i.e. freed the country from the Biden/Trump dilemma. 

If Harris loses to Trump, Democrats will still be the party that twice put forth a woman at the top of the ticket, and a minority woman at that. There is enormous political capital with that track record. The other loss scenario is that the DNC committed elder abuse and Trump prevented more of that.  Moreover, a second Trump administration will likely be faced with a Democratic controlled Senate and House. Perhaps after 2024’s vote but nearly certain after the 2026 midterms. He will be impeached for something, and this time removed from office before 2027. Even absent impeachment, he will be subject to the checks-and-balances designed into our system of governance. America will have its desired reset from the last two administrations.  

Onward.