Election Nerves: Could Kamala Have Done Better?

Like a lot of Democrats, I’m getting nervous, as the polls show the Presidential race tightening to a virtual dead heat, just a week away from the election.  What’s so dismaying is that Donald Trump is narrowing the gap even as his rhetoric grows more bizarre, delusional, and dangerous by the day — from Haitian immigrants eating pets, to Arnold Palmer’s genitalia, to the scary stuff at his neo-Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden this week. 

But watching some of Harris’s recent interviews and town halls, I’m starting to understand why. It’s not just that Trump’s wild rhetoric is now baked into his public image, so that nothing he says, no matter how outrageous, can shake his unwavering support. It’s a reminder that his unfiltered, shoot-from-the-hip style has been part of his appeal from the very start: a sharp break from the usual windbaggery of most politicians. He may be nuts, but he’s real.

By contrast, Harris’s carefully evasive, “word salad” answers to tough questions — on the border, on inflation, on her own policy flipflops —sound canned, insincere, even incomprehensible. On the stump I think she’s been strong, but in unscripted moments she sounds, too often, like just another mealy-mouthed politician.  

In some cases, I think, this has made her too timid in challenging the false narratives of Trump and his MAGA surrogates. Take the economy. I go crazy every time I hear Trump repeating the old Republican mantra, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” The crowd may jeer in support, but the real answer is a resounding “Yes!” Four years ago, it would be good to remind people, we were all wearing masks, store shelves were empty, kids couldn’t go to school, and the economy was tanking — all because of a pandemic that President Trump proved utterly incapable of handling. 

Inflation, of course, is the overriding problem now, and it’s clear that Harris and fellow Democrats don’t want to be accused of ignoring the real pain it is causing everyday Americans. But some pushback, please: inflation was a worldwide phenomenon, hardly a Biden-Harris creation. And even if Biden-era spending may have played a small role in fueling price increases, it was also a stunning success in helping to avert a recession that most economists thought was inevitable, and fostering an economic recovery that is the envy of the world. (And gas prices, in case you haven’t noticed, are dropping.) 

On the other issue perceived to be Harris’s chief vulnerability, immigration, a little more candor, even humility, might be in order. When asked if there was anything she would have done differently during the past four years, Harris notoriously said nothing came to mind. Given a do-over, I can imagine a far more genuine response that would go something like this:   

“What would I have done differently? That’s a good question; I’ve thought about it a lot. In retrospect, I do think we could have acted more quickly to respond to the flood of immigrants at our southern border.     

“Understand, first of all, that this is a difficult issue for Americans to face.  We are a big-hearted country, a nation of immigrants. We have always welcomed those from around the world fleeing oppression, violence, and poverty. ‘Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’ That’s on the Statue of Liberty, and it’s what has helped make America great — not again, but always. 

“Over the past few years, however, the facts on the ground have changed. Because of political and economic crises in so many countries, especially in Latin America, an upsurge in immigrants has strained our system to the limit. President Biden’s executive order in June, putting new restrictions on asylum seekers, was a difficult but necessary move, and it has brought the number of illegal border crossings way down. 

“Should we have acted sooner? Maybe so. But if that was a mistake, it was the result of another mistake: we foolishly believed that Republicans who have inveighed against the ‘migrant invasion’ for years actually wanted to help solve the problem. But when a bipartisan plan that would have gone a long way to easing the crisis was crafted in Congress early this year, Republicans walked away, under orders from Donald Trump.

“Instead, they have cynically used the issue to stoke hatred, demonizing all immigrants because of the crimes committed by a tiny minority, and threatening draconian measures like mass deportations that would decimate families, turn Americans against one another, and violate all our principles. 

“I still believe the American dream can apply to everyone. Does Donald Trump?”

Maybe I’m the one who’s dreaming. Maybe voters can’t absorb political messages that aren’t delivered with a sledgehammer. Or maybe, just maybe, Harris will pull out a victory, and her messaging strategy will be vindicated. But if she loses, the one silver lining — the only silver lining — is that it might force Democrats to rethink how they communicate their policies, ideals, goodwill, and common sense to the American people.