William Henry Harrison served as the nation’s ninth president and was the final commander in chief to be born under British rule. As the pioneering figurehead for the Whig Party in the White House, he holds the record for the most extended inaugural speech, which lasted nearly two hours. However, his presidency was tragically brief, as he was the first presiding president to pass away mere 31 days after taking office.
Harrison also is known as the last political figure to lose his primary bid for the presidency, only to clinch victory in the ensuing election. Former presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson also achieved this feat, with Richard Nixon experiencing a victorious return much later in his career. Interestingly, only Grover Cleveland and Donald Trump managed to win, lose, and reclaim the presidency.
More often than not, those who fail to secure victory in their first presidential race and attempt again in the subsequent election end up facing defeat once more. The unsuccessful streaks of Democrat Adlai Stevenson and Republican Thomas Dewey, both of whom ran and lost twice, serve as testament to this trend. Similarly, Henry Clay and William Jennings Bryan each encountered defeat three times in a row.
The aforementioned patterns in voters’ decisions seemingly don’t bode well for Kamala Harris. After recently announcing her decision not to pursue the position of California’s governor, speculation around her potential aspirations for the White House surged. It would seem Harris’s ambitions are getting ahead of herself when the Democratic Party’s standing continues to plummet.
Evidently, the Democratic Party finds itself grappling with a significant drop in popularity as its net favorability, falling by a staggering 30 points, is almost thrice that of the GOP’s, stuck at minus 11 points. Such an unfavorable outcome for the Democrats has been unprecedented in the past 35 years. The party seemingly managed to not only lose to Trump but also couldn’t put up a significant barrier against his actions once he held office.
It would be unfair to place the entirety of the blame on Harris’s shoulders, but it’s essential to note that she has become an emblem of the Democratic Party’s dissatisfaction. The discontent within the party isn’t homogenous, with diverse factions expressing their dissatisfaction in different ways.
Progressives within the party are voicing objections about the Democrats’ lack of adequate fight, whereas the more centralist faction argues that the party is fighting in the wrong corners, veering too far into the realm of culture wars and identity politics. Nonetheless, the common thread that binds these factions together is a fundamental desire for victory.
Harris’s position as the likely nominee in 2024 was predominantly due to her status as a diversity pick. Biden made clear his intention to draft a female vice president who would also fulfil the criteria of racial diversity. Harris’s stumbling block, however, isn’t derived from her race or gender but rather from her inability to captivate voters and aid Democratic coalition expansion.
For the Democrats to clinch a victory, they need someone capable of persuading Trump’s supporters. Harris hasn’t been able to make this transition not because of a lack of Democratic turnout but due to her failure to connect with the evolving electorate.
Harris’s articulation often feels reminiscent of a liberal arts college dean’s rhetoric. Except for reproductive rights, her convictions frequently seem to have been modeled by focus groups in a time when the electorate seeks authenticity, ironically alienating her further.
To compound this, Harris chose not to distance herself from Joe Biden on his request. Her decision to make her first public appearance on ‘The Late Show’ with Stephen Colbert since leaving office shows her intent to reach an already ideologically committed audience rather than expanding the Democratic base.
Such actions would only seem like fodder for Colbert’s devout watchers but it’s not the crowd Democrats need to aim for. If the Democratic party makes the mistake of nominating her for a second time, she might end up as an obscure answer on a game show rather than making any significant impact on United States’ history.
This speaks volumes about the current state of the Democratic party, and predictions of her future don’t seem all that bright. Unfortunately, it’s fairly unlikely that the question ‘Who was the 48th president of the United States?’ will refer to Kamala Harris any time soon, due to the evident divide she has sown amongst voters.
The discontentment harbored by disenchanted Democrats continues to widen the rift within the party, leading to a lack of unity and a clear, shared vision. To achieve success, the Democrats will need to address this division, strengthen their stand, and most importantly, focus on garnering voter trust.
In conclusion, the Democratic Party is at a crossroads where they need to carefully consider their future strategies and who they believe can convincingly represent the party and win the electorate’s trust. They need someone who can unite rather than divide, invigorate rather than alienate, and this person, as it currently stands, may not be Kamala Harris.
The post Kamala Harris: A Figurehead of Democratic Failure appeared first on Real News Now.
About Author
