Close Menu
orrao.com
  • Home
  • Business
  • U.S.
  • World
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Science
  • More
    • Health
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Israel at War
    • Life & Trends
    • Russia-Ukraine War
What's Hot

Your Adam’s Apple – What It Is, What It Does, and Who Has One

October 22, 2025

Study Reveals This Vegetable Lowers Your Colon Cancer Risk by 17%

October 22, 2025

How to Create a Clutter-Free and Calm Home Environment

October 22, 2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
orrao.comorrao.com
  • Home
  • Business
  • U.S.
  • World
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Science
  • More
    • Health
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Israel at War
    • Life & Trends
    • Russia-Ukraine War
Subscribe
orrao.com
Home»Politics»No, Kamala Harris Staffers Did Not Run a “Flawless” Campaign
Politics

No, Kamala Harris Staffers Did Not Run a “Flawless” Campaign

December 10, 2024No Comments9 Mins Read
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email




Politics


/
December 10, 2024

Democratic strategists are still patting themselves on the back for the catastrophic defeat.

Advertising policy

No, they couldn’t: in a recent appearance on Under to save Americathe consultants who led Kamala Harris’s campaign to defeat still refused to take any responsibility or criticize the candidate.(Brandon Smielowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Being angry all the time is not good for your mental health, but the world provides provocations of anger that overwhelm any attempts at calmness. For anyone who has been following the 2024 presidential election and sees Donald Trump’s victory as a huge tragedy for the US and the world, the great enemy of peace is listening to interviews with Democratic Party strategists. This is a group that has shown a stunning reluctance to accept any responsibility for losing—for the second time in eight years—to Trump, the bully and con man everyone hates.

Last Thursday, Sheila Nix, chief of staff to Vice President Kamala Harris, participated at this year’s bipartisan presidential campaign staff conference, where she made a stunning statement. “I would bet that she ran a pretty flawless campaign and she took all the steps that (were) necessary to be successful,” Nix said. “And I think obviously we didn’t win, but I think we hit all the marks.”

Chris LaCivita, Trump’s campaign manager, made the obvious answer. “Flawless Companies Don’t Lose,” LaCivita told The New York Times. “You can run a great campaign — you can run a good campaign — and still lose. But you can’t have a flawless campaign and lose.”

Nix isn’t the only Harris employee patting herself on the back for a job well done. The same notes of complacency and self-satisfaction dominate a great episode of Under to save America podcast that aired in late November featuring four senior advisers to the Harris campaign: Jen O’Malley Dillion, Quentin Fulks, Stephanie Cutter and David Plouffe.

How Washington Post columnist Perry Bacon Jr pointed outthese four strategists “continued to say that they do not make excuses or blame others, but do both.”

Bacon continued to observe:

The four never made direct admissions of their serious mistakes. “We had to really get Harris to distance himself from President Biden”; “Maybe we spent too much time in Arizona” (Harris lost there by 6 percentage points); “We were supposed to have a Palestinian speaker at the Democratic National Convention.” There were no such rude statements.

Instead, staffers repeatedly defended their work, noting that Harris lost less in the seven states she campaigned in than the rest of the country.

Current issue


Cover of the December 2024 issue

The chorus, which Harris performed in swing states, often sounded in defense of the company. But this, it turns out, is not true. How Vox writer Eric Levitz, based on the observations of strategist David Shore, notes“Democrats’ outperformance in the swing largely reflects how poorly the party performed in New York, Texas, Florida and California.” In other words, Harris’ performance in swing states was in line with her performance in the rest of the country — except for solid blue states, which saw a massive drop in support for the Democratic nominee. This is a particularly telling admission of Shore’s, for he was senior advisor to the outside group which made for great publicity in the swing states.

Many other criticisms could be made of the Harris campaign: its strategy of embracing Liz Cheney and other far-right Republicans; her use of wealthy surrogates like Mark Cuban, which undermined her economic message; her closeness to Wall Street donors who (along with Cuban) forced her to tone down any economic populism.

The original sin of the 2024 election was Joe Biden’s selfish decision to run again, which meant that when he finally stepped down in the summer, Democrats had to scramble to replace him with Kamala Harris.

Many of Harris’ strategists also worked for Joe Biden — and they remain reluctant to hold their former boss accountable or explain their own complicity in Biden’s disastrous selfishness.

Like CNN notes about Under to save America Interview: “None of the campaign executives called out Biden by name, but they repeatedly mentioned political ‘headwinds’ and touted how much Harris needed to fight back to make the race competitive.”

Quentin Fulks said Under to save America“Frankly, we were in crisis management mode to keep President Biden in the race … As Plouffe said, Trump’s support was growing and we had to do something about that as well. And so there was a lot of walking and chewing gum at the same time, but there really wasn’t any contingency plan to give her the race right after this debate or at any point until President Biden finally says he’s not going to continue.”

The fact that there was no contingency planning even after the terrible Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump debate in June is shocking. Nevertheless, it is confirmed Time magazine which reports: “On July 21, Biden told his top brass that he was dropping out of the race. O’Malley Dillon said she and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez cried that day and insisted there was no planning at the time. “Not one ounce,” said O’Malley Dillon.

These Biden loyalists took over the Harris campaign and continued to display the same recklessness.

Stephanie Cutter said Under to save America that “the congress showed a lot of enthusiasm for Kamala Harris, a lot of freshness, a focus on the future, bringing together different coalitions. We’ve had independent candidates, Republicans, Democrats, business leaders, athletes all come together around a new way forward and finally turn the page.” It is incredibly telling that Cutter believes that the Democratic coalition that will win is made up of “independents, Republicans, Democrats, business leaders, sports people,” rather than a multiracial coalition of union members, the broader working class, youth, civil rights activists, feminists, environmentalists and anti-war activists. Her deeply depoliticized view of the Democratic Party as a vehicle for the bipartisan establishment, rather than a coalition fighting to change America. This depoliticized ideology permeated the Harris campaign and doomed it to failure.


Advertising policy

The cutter gives an equally revealing answer to the “Biden question” (why didn’t Harris differentiate herself from Joe Biden since voters told voters they wanted to see it?). According to Kater:

As for the Biden question, we certainly got that wherever we went. And we knew what the data was. We knew we had to show her as her own person and point to the future, not try to re-sing the past. But she also felt part of the administration. And if we hadn’t said something like, “Well, I would have handled the border very differently.” We never set out to please anyone. So we talked about things like, she’s a different generation, most of her career is outside of Washington, not in Washington. That way, she knows there are a lot of great ideas from around the country. Her career has been about reaching across the aisle, finding healthy ways to accomplish tasks. It is not based on ideological politics. All these things we were trying to tell the story and give the impression that it was different without pointing out a specific problem.

popular

“Swipe to the bottom left to see more authors”Swipe →

The last sentence is telling: “we tried to tell the story and give the impression that it was different without pointing out a specific problem.” In other words, the goal was an empty campaign that would not involve a concrete commitment to real politics. It was all about branding, not politics. But the story that Cutter and her colleagues wanted to sell was not one that the American people fell in love with. The public wanted real politics, which Harris failed to deliver.

The Democratic Party needs a fundamental overhaul to recover from the 2024 debacle. The party needs to come to terms with the fact that Trump’s loss was not an accident that befell the party, but the result of bad decisions made by Joe Biden and his staff that put Harris in an almost impossible position. But Harris made this bad situation even worse by hiring Biden staffers and taking their advice to run a content-free campaign.

The Democrats will never recover unless the leaders responsible for this disaster are held accountable.

God God



Jeet Heer is National Affairs Correspondent Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, Monster time. He also maintains a monthly column “Pathological symptoms.” The author is A In Love with Art: Françoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications including The New Yorker, Paris review, Virginia Quarterly Review, American Avenue, Guardian, The new republicand The Boston Globe.

More from Nation


April 23, 2024 in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Donald Trump is on trial for allegedly concealing surgical payments.

Last time, the courts were an important force in checking the Trump administration. This time they can give the check again — if we press.

questions and answers

/

John Wiener


Congresswoman Barbara Lee on why Shirley Chisholm was right

The Democrat from California explains why it has been important to her during her 25 years in Congress to “tear down, dismantle and build what is fair, just and right.”

questions and answers

/

John Nichols


Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of Donald Trump, speaks to attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 4, 2024.

The international far-right, from Larry Trump and Steve Bannon to Jair Bolsonaro and Javier Millais, has joined reactionaries across Europe to pledge that there will be no safe place for the left…

Jacob Shugarman


Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR) attends a signing ceremony at the U.S. Capitol for a resolution repealing the District of Columbia Penal Code Revised Act of 2022, March 10, 2023.

Laurie Chavez-DeRemmer is as good a choice for Secretary of Labor as could reasonably be hoped for. It’s also, unfortunately, smart policy for Trump.

Sasha Abrembsky


Chuck Rocha appears on CBS News on November 5, 2024.

The strategist who helped Bernie Sanders win the Hispanic vote has dropped out of the race for DNC chairman, but he still has plenty of ideas.

John Nichols


The king of chaos

When a clown moves into a palace, he does not become king; the palace turns into a circus.

OppArt

/

Steve Brodner






Source link

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Previous ArticleExtremely cold atoms have beat a quantum precision limit for measuring gravity
Next Article IDF says it has struck over 320 targets in Syria, taking out 70% of army capabilities
Admin
  • Website

Related Posts

Politics

Trump’s Minions Are Trying to Terrorize Judges Into Submission

October 6, 2025
Politics

Will Russell Vought Be the Grim Reaper of the Government Shutdown?

October 6, 2025
Politics

The Deep Politics of the Government Shutdown

October 5, 2025
Add A Comment
Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Latest News
Entertainment

Gun Sales Shoot Up in New Jersey Amid Drone Sightings

December 14, 2024
Business

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway takes a stake in Domino’s Pizza

November 14, 2024
World

Whistles and boos at tense France-Israel football match

November 15, 2024
Sports

Frank Lampard: Coventry appoint former Chelsea and Everton boss as successor to Mark Robins | Football News

November 28, 2024
Entertainment

Blake Lively Now Suing Justin Baldoni for Mental Anguish, Emotional Distress

January 1, 2025
Entertainment

Joey Lawrence, Estranged Wife Spotted for the First Time Since Calling Off Divorce

December 9, 2024
Categories
  • Home
  • Business
  • U.S.
  • World
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Science
  • More
    • Health
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Israel at War
    • Life & Trends
    • Russia-Ukraine War
Most Popular

Why DeepSeek’s AI Model Just Became the Top-Rated App in the U.S.

January 28, 202552 Views

Why Time ‘Slows’ When You’re in Danger

January 8, 202515 Views

Top Scholar Says Evidence for Special Education Inclusion is ‘Fundamentally Flawed’

January 13, 202511 Views

Antoine Semenyo shines for Bournemouth but Liverpool look unstoppable – Premier League hits and misses | Football News

February 1, 20259 Views

Oh hi there 👋
It’s nice to meet you.

Sign up to receive awesome content in your inbox, every month.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

  • Home
  • About us
  • Get In Touch
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
© 2025 All Rights Reserved - Orrao.com

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.