OPINION:
Looking for someone to blame for the crushing loss for Democrats in the 2024 presidential election? Don’t look at Kamala Harris.
That’s the former vice president’s message in her new 320-page book, “107 Days,” all about how she crashed and burned after President Joe Biden woke up long enough to decide that he definitely shouldn’t run for president again (or, at the very least, finally heard what everyone he knew was telling him).
Ms. Harris’ memoir is a master class in blame-shifting that could have been more accurately titled “Everybody but Me.” Each page is filled with excuses about why she just couldn’t persuade Americans to vote for her, even though she burned through $1.5 billion in just 15 weeks.
The book is less a postmortem and more a score-settling spree. The list of the guilty is long and distinguished. It includes Joe and Jill Biden — Mr. Biden’s entire staff, for that matter — California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and even Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The only person seemingly without fault is, you guessed it, Queen Kamala.
Her central grievance? The world simply wasn’t ready for her greatness. In one particularly telling passage, she laments that although Mr. Buttigieg was her top pick for a running mate, she decided America “couldn’t handle” a ticket with a Black woman and a gay man.
Think about that for a moment. After years of preaching diversity, equity and inclusion, Ms. Harris admits she reduced a qualified colleague to a demographic box and dismissed him as an electoral liability. It’s a stunning reveal of a worldview based not on individual merit but on a rigid, cynical calculus of identity politics.
The blamefest doesn’t stop there. The sore loser takes swipes at Mr. Biden, calling his decision to run again “reckless” and claiming his staff actively sabotaged her. She complains her office was unfairly cast as “chaotic” (spoiler: it was; just ask the dozens of staff members who spilled the beans after escaping the dysfunctional office).
She recounts how Mr. Newsom, the likely Democratic presidential nominee for 2028, dodged her calls by claiming to be on a hike, griping, “He never did” call back. Mr. Shapiro, she writes, was too ambitious, musing that “he would want to be in the room for every decision.” Sen. Mark Kelly wasn’t battle-tested enough.
The grievances pile up while her list of mea culpas remains conspicuously light.
This isn’t just sour grapes; it’s a political suicide note. As one former aide told the Daily Mail that the book “doesn’t mean anything when it comes to 2028, because that’s going to be a huge wide-open field.” Translation: Please go away; we won’t be needing you.
Sports guru turned political commentator Stephen A. Smith was even more blunt on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, asking, “Who cares what she has to say at this particular moment in time? I don’t think that she’s going to have any support from the Democratic Party, I can tell you that much.”
The party itself is in rough shape. A recent CNBC survey showed its net favorability has crashed to a 30-year low. It’s trailing the Republican National Committee in fundraising by a staggering margin. As a detailed Rolling Stone analysis of the 2024 election shows, Ms. Harris lost ground with nearly every single demographic group compared with Mr. Biden’s 2020 performance, including a 7-point drop with Hispanic women and a 6-point drop with young voters.
The timing of Ms. Harris’ book tour has generated unease among some Democratic operatives who worry it may hinder the party’s efforts to move forward. Critics draw parallels to Hillary Clinton’s post-2016 election activities, suggesting Ms. Harris’ reemergence could create similar divisions within the party.
But to write an entire book to settle old scores is completely counterproductive. Politics ain’t beanbag. Leaders are measured by how they respond to defeat. They learn, they recalibrate, they build bridges — not burn them. And they don’t publish a political obituary that torches their own party and alienates anyone who might have once been an ally.
With “107 Days,” Ms. Harris comes across not as a leader but as petty, insecure and consumed with excuses. For any Democrats holding out hope for a 2028 comeback, the message from the book is clear: It’s time to take down the yard signs.
The woman who kept telling voters “We’re not going back” has shown she has no idea how to move forward. But then, maybe that was the plan all along: Burn the boats and swim away to a desert island.
• Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on Twitter @josephcurl.
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