In a hopelessly tied election, the results of a hand to hand count won’t matter. Donald Trump’s supporters will do anything to stop certification, taking the entire matter to the House of Representatives. Trump would win. Small red states have a massive advantage – Wyoming’s vote weighs the same as California, unbelievable.
It is utterly tragic and telling that a Harris narrow vote win won’t do it in 2024 – not with Trump supporters believing they are entitled after 2020, and not with Trump threatening a violent response. The only thing that will propel Harris to the Oval Office is something that is actually within her grasp, a decisive win, one with a three to four state cushion, one in which she wins three to four states by more than two points, not a .25% recount. It is possible.
But it is certainly not possible as things stand now, two weeks prior to the election. She is coasting and that won’t get it done, at least not get it done enough to create a big enough lead. She may be ahead but that’s not good enough. How do we know that she has to get aggressive and stop playing it safe? She has done it before – it’s the only way she moved up. Hasn’t since.
Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden amidst strong concern that she didn’t win the primary, wasn’t a great campaigner, and simply wasn’t “big enough” for the presidential spotlight. People underestimated her.
She proved to be more than big enough for the presidency by being a great campaigner that didn’t need a primary. She took risks, she found an edge to propel herself upward. She is at her best during an aggressive attack, it’s when she’s most natural, on the prowl, flattening doubters, overcoming those who underestimate her. Remember how she used her senate seat to grill candidates? She was a predator – they sweated it out. That’s her comfort zone. Damn – she’s good.
But right now she’s just not getting it done. It is not the slightest bit fair that Trump could win by .33% advantage in the vote and yet Harris must win by 2.3% – it is absolutely not fair! And yet it is reality. So it is best to play by reality’s rules. Besides, she can do it, most people are sick of Trump. She will win the popular vote by five million.
It is also reality that Harris is playing it safe, far too safe, and polite dodges to questions have become the dominating campaign issue. According to Professor M. Steven Fish of the University of California, Berkeley, “If the candidates are unwilling to say anything new and provocative, the media will focus on their misstatements and artless dodges.”
Exactly. In a redacted quote, Fish says:
Her success will depend on what she says and how she says it. [] She has made a habit of stonewalling, dodging and reformulating questions to render them… to scripted responses…”
“[S]he said that her approach was a sign of discipline… But many voters — including those she most needs to impress — are more likely to see it as annoying and craven. Warriors don’t lack the courage to answer questions directly.”
Damn. One wants to scream at the professor that she’s a great candidate who knows best how to present herself, blah blah – knowing deep in the gut that he’s telling the truth. Yes, she could sit around waiting for Trump to implode. She would sit forever. For the last nine years he’s said stuff that would otherwise implode his campaign or career. It has never happened and never will.
Besides, Kamala Harris is not Kamala Harris unless she is the aggressive one, the surprising one, the underdog who is “shockingly good.” That’s who she is. It is how she has to act as president but she will never be president unless she unleashes her real self now, with 14 days left – today. She needs to make news, stand up and say something semi-crazy to get the cameras on her. Then confidently laugh, say something tough, smile, be the cool one, the big one, and then move on. That’s how she gets headlines, that’s how voters say “Wow, she really could do well… ” That is Harris being Harris, being her best.
She has very highly paid campaign staffers who know politics far better than most. But those staffers are paid to keep her locked in at the high bar – trying to win a total vote count. They are very satisfied if they can nail in an unmovable .5% margin to win the vote. We know better. She will “win” the election and never be president. She must win by 2% or she won’t ever assume office. We are not paid – our advice comes without worrying about keeping her stable at a winning level.
We can give her advice that doesn’t keep her at her high bar. No, want the bar itself moved higher. We can risk the advice because she has to risk sounding like a president to be president.
God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and @JasonMiciak
The cake is baked. Not coasting. Not the time for Hail Mary bombs either.
Tied? Per the polls? Blech. I don’t believe any of them. Look at the early voting numbers. I watched two of the town halls with Cheney yesterday. They attack – they’re just not mean about it. Do you want them to be like 45 and be mean? That won’t work. Have you been watching?
I really don’t think Vice President Harris needs an armchair quarterback to tell her what to do! She knows what she is doing! Playing dirty (like repugnicans) will not help her and she knows it. I don’t pay attention to polls. Look at how many times that they have been wrong! Poll results can too easily be influenced by choosing who to ask, and what questions to ask.
Believe me, i never said “play dirty” – I said get aggressive, say things that make news rather than the news be that she’s dodging.
Yes, I am the armchair quarterback – and I dearly hope that I’m wrong.
We will see.
jason
I guess you are no different than the NY Times, Washington Post, MSNBC and the rest. Induce fear in your readers, that in turn creates click bait which is what your bosses want. Explain to me how polls work. In battleground states, Harris has a +11 favorability over Trump. Harris is up +5 on jobs, +5 on housing. A couple of weeks ago, she was up as much as 6+ points in the polls. Within a week the NYTimes, a notoriously bad poller, has her trailing by one. I will never believe and what BS you want to toss out, will convince me that the same part of the country has an overwhelming lead in likeability and the economy but will hold their nose and vote for Trump. There are not that many MAGAs out there. Quit BS ing your readers.
as if Trump answers questions and doesn’t stonewall.
idk where u r getting your info from but maybe u need to b part of Harris’s ground operation instead of writing these silly articles that are just nonsense.
I am only getting the information from the polls and the news. That and my own observations. I hope that my opinion is thrown out as wrong, or taken bc it is right.
Either way, it’s what she wants to work.
jason
I believe your concern about Republicans throwing the certification to the House of Representatives is valid, Jason. By necessity, we’re in the dark about the Biden administration’s plans to prevent GOP attempts to subvert the will of the people. But Biden and the DOJ surely know what’s coming, and I don’t think even a “big” win for Harris will matter to the MAGA zealots.
Related to Karen’s comment is the report that the Georgia Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of a lower court’s ruling blocking the bull rap rules adopted by the MAGA-dominated election board that were designed to confuse, upset, and delay results certification.
There ARE forces at work for our side.