Thoughts on Why Harris Lost

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the twice unsuccessful entryist who sought the Democrat presidential nomination pontificated today that Vice President Kamala Harris lost the election to Donald Trump as she and the Democrat Party abandoned the working class. It is clear that many union members did not follow their leaders who endorsed Harris; unions, particularly the United Automobile Workers Union (UAW) gave strong support to Harris. It is noteworthy that President Joe Biden came to Michigan to walk the UAW picket line in support of striking UAW members. So why did Michigan, and presumably its union members go for the Republican Party? The answer can be found in the 1972 presidential election. During that campaign, Democrat nominee Senator George McGovern promoted a far left program against incumbent Richard Nixon. In a speech in Lordstown, Ohio to striking UAW members at the GM Assembly plant, McGovern proposed a 100% inheritance tax on all estates over $500,000 and was met with boos from the assembled audience. McGovern turned to an aide and asked “what’s wrong with these people, do they think they’re going to win the lottery?” McGovern, an educated elitist if there ever was one, didn’t understand that he was telling his working class audience that it was fine if they and their descendants would forever be working class as his policies would take care of them but prohibit them from ever accumulating any significant amount of capital. Kamala Harris probably never heard of this event but she, too, proposed punitive legislation against capital accumulation that would prevent social mobility and rising economic status. Voters are not dumb. They figured out, despite their union leadership, that the Democrat Party and its policies were not to their benefit, and they voted accordingly.

Another factor to consider is that it is quite rare for any serving vice president to be elected president. The only sitting vice president who was elected president that comes to mind is George H.W. Bush (Bush 41). He served for eight years as number 2 to the enormously popular Ronald Reagan who won the presidency twice in great landslides. Other sitting vice presidents ran unsuccessfully; they include Richard Nixon (1960), Hubert Humphrey (1968) Al Gore (2000) and of course, Kamala Harris. Other non sitting vice presidents who lost include Henry Wallace (1948) and Walter Mondale (1984). Victorius former Vice Presidents include Richard Nixon (1968) and Joe Biden (2020). It is important to remember two term Vice President John Nance Garner’s comment on the vice presidency. Cactus Jack said the office “wasn’t worth a bucket of warm spit“ (or piss, as he was alleged to have said). The sole constitutional function of the vice president is to preside over the Senate and to cast a vote in case of a tie. Biden himself refers to serving as vice president in the Obama Biden administration. Of course, this is total nonsense. Barack Obama was President and the eight years of his tenure in that office were the Obama administration. Vice President Harris frequently referred to the Biden Harris administration but such an entity has never existed. There was, and at this moment there is, only a Biden administration. A sitting vice president faces a significant handicap as he/she can face foreign and domestic issues and challenges to their job performance as well as responsibility for the actions of the current incumbent president. Despite significant domestic and foreign problems which the US faces under the Biden administration, Harris stated that she would change nothing of Biden’s policies or actions of the last four years. Despite the plutocratic coup which stole the Democrat presidential nomination from Biden, Harris, as vice president assumed “ownership” and responsibility for all of Biden’s actions. Bush 41 had a popular president to succeed. Harris did not.

Finally, the nominating process which made Harris the Democrat presidential nominee must be called to attention. Biden, running in primaries and caucuses all across the country won more than enough delegates to secure the nomination. Plutocrats and elites led by George Clooney Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Shumer forced Biden to withdraw and substituted Harris. Should the Democrat party seek a more legitimate candidate in the future, they may need to revisit and revise the McGovern Fraser rules which they adopted prior to their 1972 convention. The presence of special delegates and super-delegates leave a lot to be desired. Harris did not win one caucus or one primary and the legitimacy of her candidacy is open to question.

These are some but not all the considerations in my opinion of why Kamala Harris lost the 2024 presidential election. Persistent inflation, uncontrolled illegal immigration, the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, poor policies, poor positioning for the office, a poor selection process, and a history of an unsatisfactory explanation of her role in the current Biden administration all may explain her loss. Harris’ inability to differentiate herself from an unpopular Biden administration doomed her. Additionally, she ran against a former president who had great popularity and support. Under these circumstances, her loss is easy to understand.

Garry S. Sklar

November 7, 2024

Rome, Italy