The Kamala Harris "Miracle"

When President Biden first bowed out, my reaction was immense relief. Now, just two days later, I’m filled with awe.

In just over 48 hours, a fractious party known for its circular firing squads has united behind Kamala Harris. If not complete, the new sense of unity has been decisive and impressive.

Harris now reportedly has enough pledged delegates to claim the nomination legitimately, even in an “open” convention. She motivated over $100 million in donations in a single 24-hour period—an all-time record. Not a single Democratic rival has risen to challenge her for the top job. And an ever-expanding single-day Zoom meeting of Black female supporters grew to 44,000 participants before it was done.

All of this happened in about two days. It was as if some sort of dam had broken.

I’m not sure what was responsible. Part of it was surely the immense relief (which I also felt) at the thought that our democracy’s destruction by a vengeful and demented Demagogue no longer appears inevitable. But I think there was more, a lot more.

My aging memory tells me that Harris is a strong debater. I remember that she scored points off of President Biden himself in the 2020 primary debates. I think that was part of why he picked her as his VP. After all, any VP is widely expected to serve as an “attack dog.”

Yet Harris hasn’t performed that role in her 3.5 years as VP. Instead, except for her strong support for female reproductive rights, she has kept as low a profile as any VP in my memory.

Could all that have been by design, whether by her, President Biden or both?

I’m beginning to think so.

Today, Kamala Harris seems the Demagogue’s antithesis in every way. She has a lovely smile and and easy grace, while he’s a bragging, lying, growling, testosterone-fueled bully. Her views on many issues are poorly known or speculative, while his are expressed loudly and repeatedly in lies, insults and slander. Not only does this give her room to maneuver; it also lets voters suspect, quite reasonably, that she might be persuadable. Where she seems full of love and optimism, he is full of fire and brimstone, vengeance, fear and hate. Where she projects hope, he touts doom and an apocalypse.

Funny thing, that. Two of the most successful politicians of my lifetime—Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama—both used optimism and hope to win elections. Reagan called it “morning in America.” Obama used what Sarah Palin derided as “that hopey changey thing,” but it worked. Could it be that American voters are tired of gloom and doom?

There is virtue in keeping a positive message with little detailed policy prescription. You invite voters to project their needs onto you. You appear open-minded and non-didactic. And if you keep that mien while actually in office, you invite the respectful, open and conciliatory negotiation that is the essence of democracy, or at least that was before the advent of Newt Gingrich, Mitch McConnell, the Demagogue and the co-called “Freedom Caucus.”

Ambiguity suits a real leader. Why? A true leader knows that the best anyone can do in a democracy, even the President, is to push the lever a little in the desired direction before the final decision is made. That’s what distinguishes democracy from despotism.

Hope springs eternal, and Harris is quite clever in using it as her vision for the future and a point of leverage for her campaign. Maybe, just maybe, we fight fire best not with fire, but with cooling water. Maybe, just maybe, Democratic, Independent and a few Republican voters are beginning to appreciate these points. Maybe, just maybe, President Biden and Vice-President Harris planned it this way all along. If so, then maybe, just maybe, the vote in November will be far less a cliffhanger than a landslide like that for FDR in 1932.

If so, there is nothing that the Demagogue or his party can do or say to affect the result. He would need a personality and a brain transplant. He is utterly incapable of keeping his many flaws to himself.

Next to him, Kamala Harris seems like an angel. Best for an angel to stay not entirely transparent and a bit out of reach.



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