The political landscape appears to be a swirling sandstorm with Kamala Harris’s ascension to the top spot of the Democratic ticket. After agonizing weeks of waiting to see if President Biden would accept the bleak prognosis for his reelection, he finally gracefully capitulated and gave a full-throated endorsement of his vice president. I was attending the 90th birthday celebration for former Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns when the news broke. Many luminaries were in attendance, including House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Al Sharpton, former Congressman Charlie Rangel, and New York State Attorney General Leticia James, the most popular person in the room. One could sense the optimistic mood of the attendees, although speakers were careful not to give it much attention lest it upstaged the tribute to Mr. Towns.
The outpouring of support for the newly crowned presidential nominee has been spectacular. Her campaign raised $100 million in the 36 hours after Biden’s announcement. Her nomination will not be official until delegates vote next month leading up to the Democratic National Convention. However, she has more delegates than needed pledged to vote for her. Her challenge is to define herself before Trump does. She has announced that her signature issues will be healthcare, childcare, and rebuilding the middle class, with abortion as her ace in the hole.
MAGA strategists are in a frenzy to change their election game plan that was designed for “sleepy” Joe Biden. They have only one mode: to attack, denigrate, and prevaricate. They have nothing in the way of policy or issues that would motivate voters to return Trump to the White House other than to say things were better economically during his administration. On one level, things were pretty good before COVID-19 disrupted our lives. What they are not saying is that Trump inherited a good economy from President Obama, who had inherited an economy amid a financial crisis. After 76 consecutive months of job growth under Obama, that streak extended to 113 months under Trump. Unemployment fell from 10 percent to 4.7 percent when Obama left office. It continued to fall under Trump.
The MAGA crowd will also hammer Harris on the issue of inflation, which rose partially from the American Rescue Plan stimulus passed by Democrats to help Americans recover from the Trump administration’s disastrous response to the pandemic. However, economists blame supply shortages caused by the pandemic and exacerbated by the war in Ukraine as a primary cause for the price spike. Both Trump and Biden’s reliance on tariffs may have contributed minimally to rising prices. However, Trump’s proposal to drastically increase tariffs will exacerbate inflationary pressures on the economy. Harris will need to address her thinking on trade policy.
She caught heat from her Democratic rivals during the 2020 primary because of her alleged tough-on-crime history as a prosecutor. Proclaiming a desire to Make America Safe Again, MAGA strategists will try to flip the script by painting her as a far-left Westcoast liberal prosecutor who was soft on criminals. Good luck with that. They will try to convince voters crime is rampaging the nation when it continues to decline. The country is much safer, with violent crimes declining 49 percent between 1993 and 2023. The FBI released its report in June, reporting violent crime had declined 15.2 percent in the first quarter of 2024. Murder decreased by 26.4 percent, robbery fell by 17.8 percent, and rape decreased by 25.7 percent—just more MAGA lies.
The crisis on the southern border is seen as a sledgehammer to use against Harris, painting her as the dismally failing czar charged with stemming the massive “invasion” of immigrants into the country. She will, of course, remind voters that efforts to effectively reduce the number of migrants at the border were derailed when Trump ordered Republicans to kill strict bipartisan legislation to cynically use the issue as a political weapon. It will be a complex case to make, but immigrants helped to stave off a recession and save the U.S. economy.
As the dust begins to clear, all eyes will be on the polls. Democrats still have some angst about whether Kamala Harris can beat Donald Trump. Is America ready for its first female president who is also a person of color? My gut tells me she can do this. Much will depend on young voters unhappy about choosing between Biden and Trump. There are millions more eligible Gen Z voters since the 2020 election. The question remains about how many will turn out. Depending on how she handles Netanyahu, Harris may be able to distance herself from the baggage of Biden’s Gaza war policies. She must give voters something to believe in and confidence she can get the job done.