The shocked Democrats are reliving the nightmare of 2016, the party's reckoning has already begun. The main suspect for the defeat is Joe Biden : the president, according to many, also leaked by an anonymous source from Harris' campaign, has "a huge responsibility" for having stubbornly remained in the race for months, forcing the Democrats to remove him almost by force after the debacle in the TV duel against Donald Trump.
Had he stepped aside after the midterms, as some aides had urged him to do, Democratic hopes would have been broader. Whoever emerged as the primary candidate, at least, would have entered the final weeks before the vote without so many Americans complaining that they didn’t know enough, as they have about Harris.
A primordial error, a responsibility shared, moreover, according to observers, also by the leaders of the donkey, incapable of opposing the president a year ago, when they did not prevent him from running again. Harris, in the little more than three months at her disposal, has tried to work a miracle, clashing with many of the party's bigwigs (perhaps including Biden himself) who would have preferred mini primaries rather than her investiture. And internal tensions have fueled those between Harris's staff and her boss's campaign, on which the vice president has necessarily had to rely for the run-up.
The misunderstandings were evident from the beginning, with many of the president's loyalists forced to pull the cart for a candidate they never believed in. For her part, Harris also made several mistakes: despite trying to distance herself from Biden - one of the least loved presidents, who has fallen to just 39% of the vote - she was unable to truly distance herself and establish herself as a credible alternative , despite the fact that personalities of the caliber of Nancy Pelosi (perhaps the one who pushed the most for Biden's ouster) and Barack Obama spent most of their time on her behalf. For the former president in particular, Harris's debacle is a hard blow that gives new life to those who have long accused him of not being able to train a new generation of Democratic leaders, despite the eight years he spent in the White House.
Now watch out for the possible Democratic aspirants to the White House for 2028, from Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer to those of California and Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro and Gavin Newsom : a victory of Harris would have blocked them for eight years, now instead they can look to the future with more hope. Even for them, however, the crucial problem remains that of refounding a party that no longer seems capable of speaking to Americans.
(Unioneonline/D)