President Biden’s disastrous performance in the June 2024 CNN debate in Atlanta opened the door for Kamala Harris’s long-shot bid for the White House. It did not take long for her to slam the door shut on her candidacy with her ill-fated appearance on The View on October 8, when co-host Sunny Hostin asked the question: “If anything, would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years?” Being a loyal Vice President, Harris dutifully replied: “There is nothing that comes to mind in terms of—and I’ve been a part of—most of the decisions that have had impact.” Say what? She cemented herself to Biden’s dismal approval rating, which was hovering around 39-42 percent at the time.
The moment I heard the news, I knew that this would be difficult, if not impossible, to recover from. I imagined the Trump team was breaking out the champagne. It was not what the American public wanted to hear. They saw Biden as tired and visionless. COVID pandemic relief, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, took the brunt of the blame for pushing inflation to heights not seen since the seventies. There were other factors, such as disruptions to the world’s supply chains and residual inflation from $3 trillion in bipartisan stimulus passed during the previous Trump administration.
The price of eggs became the ultimate symbol of sticker shock, as it doubled and tripled while the cost of other staples and commodities rose, but not nearly as much. Unfortunately for the Democrats, the price of eggs skyrocketed due to Avian flu that killed as many as 58 million birds and had less to do with inflation.
The tragedy of Harris’s gaffe is that it diverted attention from a policy idea she announced during the same episode of The View that could have been a game-changer and sealed her entry into the White House. Her proposal for the “Medicare at Home” benefit to address the needs of the “Sandwich Generation”—women who are economically squeezed by rising childcare costs and the costs of caring for their aging parents—was hailed by health experts as “historic” and “transformative.” But it received little attention as political opponents seized the opportunity to make her “I’m just like Biden” message the news of the day.
The idea to release her proposal as “soft news” on a daytime talk show that would reach many in the “Sandwich generation” seemed plausible and would have had the desired impact had she not made her Biden comment. The best method would have been to announce it on a “hard news” platform with an accompanying press release and get it on news programs. As a result, it got little traction in the final weeks leading up to Election Day. And sadly, we have heard nothing about it since.
Democrats have an awful track record with messaging, so we are on pins and needles to see how they might self-destruct en route to the midterm elections that they are all but guaranteed to win big. Their message must be more than just “Donald Trump is the worst president ever.” They must spell out his corruption in plain, simple terms that eighth-graders can understand, and they must provide one or two proposals to improve the circumstances of most Americans. I believe “Medicare at Home” could be one proposal that solidifies Democrats’ chances of regaining the House, if not the Senate.
It must be messaged carefully. There is still time to conduct focus groups to gauge public interest. With an estimated price tag of $40 billion a year, there will be much debate about how it will be paid for. Harris proposed funding it through drug price negotiations. Policymakers need to consider other ways. The nuances of moving home care from Medicaid (which requires “spending down” assets) to Medicare (a universal benefit) are complex. Explaining this shift to a general audience in 30-second soundbites will be challenging. We need to be discussing this now. Pollsters estimate that roughly a quarter of adult Americans are part of the “Sandwich Generation,” a group that includes many undecided voters.
Americans’ life expectancy will continue to expand. By 2030, those aged 65 and older will outnumber those aged 18 and younger for the first time in U.S. history. The cost of raising children in the U.S. continues to skyrocket, reaching more than $300,000 in 2025. You cannot afford to sit out the midterm elections in 2026.