So....this is gonna be more my personal opinions and train of thought, but I decided to go through all of my old posts about Harris's campaign as they were happening, and this is what I think happened.
When Harris took over the campaign, she was popular because she was new, she was different. We really DID have a honeymoon period where people on the left were energized and hopeful. Me, I was a but more discerning and even handed, but even I bought into the hype somewhat. Still, I understood one simple reality, she could either run as a populist progressive, or she could run as a milquetoast centrist. And I really judged her on what path she took. While some initial moves like picking tim walz seemed good, ultimately, she ended up going the milquetoast centrist route.
I think the democrats have a triangulation problem. They need to keep their interests happy on the left, but also in the center. And while Harris was new, she was schrodinger's candidate. She was all things to all people. The center saw a centrist, the left saw a progressive, and ultimately, the box had to be opened, and she had to put it in stone what she was and what we were getting. It seemed like democratic strategists were trying to avoid doing this, and I even criticized them for suggesting that the voters were wrong for daring to demand policy from her, it seems like they wanted to ride that pure vibes based wave forever, but ultimately, she had to come out with a platform, and people would base their views of her on that platform.
So the box was opened and we got "centrist." Harris ran a very milquetoast campaign that dropped a lot of Biden's progressive policies like a public option, and for me...she became repulsive immediately. She leaned into this opportunity economy framing to appeal to the work loving moderates, and given my own ideology...I just...automatically began hating her for it. And then the convention happened, I noted it felt like 2016 again with a lot of leaning into identity politics and her actual economic platform being lacking, and yeah, my enthusiasm was killed.
Still, the public seemed to react positively at first, and through september she remained on a high. She had her one and only debate with trump and it went so badly for trump he refused to have another one. he understood that his appeal came down to the less the voters saw of him in contrast with harris, the better, and much like with the primaries, he chickened out and hid in his basement. And as he did that, his approval went up. Then Vance had a pretty decent debate with Walz and didn't appear as unhinged as democrats were making him out to be (and while walz didn't do badly, he didn't come off as strong as vance) and yeah, it seemed like when that happened, the energy started reversing.
October was a very cringey month for Harris. She started doing more interviews and town halls, and said a bunch of cringey things indicating that she would be virtually no different than Biden. She leaned into the whole "republicans in her cabinet" framing, she campaigned with liz cheney, and she just....didn't resonate.
That's the thing with Harris, if she could be everything to everyone and exist in the state of superposition she started in, where the vibes and energy were high, she probably wouldve won. She had immense energy at first. But then the honeymoon period wore off, that new car smell became that sickening "old car smell" again, and voters just...didn't buy into her or her vision.
Honestly, I think the democratic brand sucks, and I think that her campaign ended up sucking. Once she committed to the centrist route on policy and promised to be just another four years of joe biden, it was over. The voters rejected her, and I think the polling data backed that up.
With me, my own personal opinion didnt line up ENTIRELY with polls, but I seemed to sour on her about a month before the public did.
Honestly, I think it really came down to the fact that democrats still act like it's 1992, and the party and its culture are in their own heads. And they just seem to know how to kill a good party. It wasn't harris per se, at least for me, it was the whole brand. The stuff she did that was cringey and didnt resonate wasnt for voters like me, it was for moderate republicans fleeing the republican party. And they didn't vote. And the voter base didnt bite, and yeah.
Honestly, I think the dems need to stop running to the center. They need to embrace progressive populism and stop trying to cater to this imaginary ex republican voter that doesn't exist. I AM a literal ex republican, and what I want is someone further left than anyone we've run, at least on economics. Because there is no one with stronger faith than one of the converted, and I am one of the converted.
Drop the loser identity crap, embrace populism. Basically channel your inner bernie sanders and go to town. Stop trying to appeal to donors. yes yes yes, you get tons of money, but votes win elections, money just influences how you can reach the voters. Remember when Sanders was dominating with small dollar donors in the primary? That's what voter enthusiasm looks like. Maybe Harris's brand of politics is what pleases the donors, but what the donors isnt popular. because we live in a populist era of politics and people want something completely separate from what the voters want. Democrats can either adapt to that reality or keep losing elections.
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