107 Days
Kamala Harris and the Future of the Democratic Party
I finally read former Vice-President Kamala Harris’s 107 Days. It is a riveting account of her presidential bid after President Joe Biden’s resignation due to his flubbed debate in Atlanta. It so happens that my colleagues and I were in the ATL for a conference planning meeting the night of the debate. We happen to be staying in the same hotel as the Biden advance team, and we watched the disastrous debate on television at the hotel bar. When the advance team returned back to the hotel it was as though President Biden had literally collapsed and died on stage.
Biden’s team, Harris notes, showed little wisdom by forcing an early debate with Trump. I always thought they should have used the Floyd Mayweather Jr’s strategy of waiting his opponent Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines out to his advantage. An early debate only advantaged Trump. However, as I know from participating and watching national campaigns up close for years political consultants surrounding presidential candidates are an arrogant lot. So, Biden’s team as Harris documents set up an aged candidate to come on a nationally televised debate when he was exhausted, though he did an admirable job.
There was also another extenuating circumstance that created Biden’s downfall. On October 7, 2023, in a desperate measure Palestinians in Hamas led Gaza attacked Israel leaving approximately 1,139 Israelis killed and 200 hundred taken captive. Israel led by the troublesome and criminally indicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then opened a full-scale war that has turned Gaza to rubble and creating a refugee situation and a debate as to whether Netanyahu led government has acted genocidally. In 107 Days, Harris makes the point that she was excited to be an advocate for Generation Z in her policy making as she was catapulted into a run for the presidency. I recollect watching President Biden’s comments with Prime Minister Netanyahu standing next to him that completely alienated my Gen Z nephew.
And this was the burden she had to carry as she began her instantaneous candidacy. Yet her book recounts how Biden loyalist blamed her for their mistakes and missteps creating doubts about her abilities. While I know much of what she writes has some truth, there is a sleight of hand in her narrative. Her campaign was not just about the 107 days of her presidential bid. What undermined her candidacy was her party’s failings.
I admired Harris for taking on the big banks on behalf of the people of California. As California’s Attorney General Harris rightfully held out for remuneration which she won. I also admired her legal prowess examining nominees for U.S. Attorney General and the Supreme Court while in the U.S. Senate.
Harris in debate with Biden for the Democratic nomination busted him on his stance on busing to achieve racial integration. Now, I must admit, I was never for busing to achieve racial integration. Biden, however, as a Congressman and then Senator was not defending the interest of his Black constituents on busing, he was playing into the racial politics of his larger constituents that elected him to office. So, I thought it was wonderful political theater and fair play when Harris used Biden’s own politics on him in a Democratic debate. It brought out the point that Biden played politics with the lives of Black Americans as do politicians on both sides of the aisle are prone to do, though the Democratic Party wants Black voters to remain loyal constituent to the party.
And Biden needed Harris as his Vice-President. He was the Chairperson of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 when Justice Clarence Thomas’s confirmation hearing was held. His performance was underwhelming and Anita Hill, among others, went unprotected politically. It was still a man’s world in 1991. Women’s voices were not taken seriously especially the voices of Black women. Biden did not handle the Thomas confirmation well and the rest is history. So, in 2020, he needed Harris to offset his political deficiencies although he served as Obama’s vice-president.
107 Days, like nearly every narrative, does not describe all of Harris’s miscues candidly. In her presidential nomination bid, she never explains why she avoided straightforward conversation about her role as California Attorney General as countless Black men were being incarcerated. She seemed reticence to do so. This was something many Black Barbershop audiences grew suspicious of. Her reluctance created unnecessary scrutiny among working class Black men. And though Harris ran admirably for the presidency in 107 Days this had nothing to do with her own early fumbles on her staff hirings as Vice-President. Nor did her own choices of Vice-President who seemed more grandpa-ish than President Biden. Nevertheless, we ought to give Harris kudos for her run and learn from it. There are no perfect politicians, all candidates are fallible. They’re human beings who need to be held accountable to the promises they make.