Kamala Harris Could Win This Election. Let Her.
Like many Americans who watched the presidential debate on Thursday night, I knew when it was over that there was no way I was going to sleep. So I did something I almost never do: tuned in to the pundit commentary on cable news. I’m glad I did. Not long after the debate, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on CNN with Anderson Cooper. Watching her calmly and methodically respond to a battering ram of questions from Cooper, it occurred to me: The obvious, logical path out of the mess President Biden created with his disastrous debate performance is for him to bow out with honor and endorse his young, vigorous and talented vice president to stand in his stead.
I know, I know. You think I just fell out of a coconut tree. Didn’t Harris flame out in the last Democratic presidential primary, leaving just in time to avoid an embarrassing loss in her home state, California? Yes. But to win a primary you must thread the needle of introducing yourself to the base of the party while burnishing the case for your ideas and dissing the talents of your rivals, all while keeping your options open, because your opponents are also your future surrogates and allies. For women — and for Black women in particular — the gender and racial dynamics of the presidential primary race seem especially difficult to navigate.
Those dynamics would play out very differently on a national stage shared with Donald Trump. There, Harris would not be hectoring a fellow Democrat over relatively small differences in policy or attempting to polish her own record in comparison to a governor or fellow lawmaker. She can use her true superpower: She will be a relentless prosecutor of the very clear political case against Donald John Trump, a felon, a man found liable for sexual abuse, an inveterate liar, a demagogue, a threat to our democracy and to our Constitution.
I think I speak for a lot of women, probably the most decisive voting bloc in this election, when I say that I would love to see Harris cut Trump down to size. And unlike the blow she landed on Biden during the 2020 primary debate — “That little girl was me,” in response to Biden’s terrible answer about school busing policy — she would be in a ring with an actual bully who will be unable to help himself and treat her with menacing disrespect. Unlike Trump’s previous female debate rival, Hillary Clinton, nary a whiff of scandal has besmirched Harris. All Trump would have is personal attacks, which would only further reinforce his image as a bully. That could play especially poorly with moderate voters when directed at a mature Black woman.
In the wake of Thursday night’s debate, it is easy to overlook how weak Trump is. He gave a dismal performance. He served up a platter of falsehoods and insults that actually turned off some voters, according to interviews I saw with debate viewers on television. But a rambling, sputtering Biden utterly failed to counter him.
Harris, with her killer instincts and poise, could have wiped the floor with Trump on the issues that matter most to voters. We forget that she was very successful not just as a prosecutor but also as a candidate for statewide office in California. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the first Trump administration she drew blood with her tough, calm and deliberate questions, managing to score viral moments without seeming like a theatrical showboater.
