regard viewing them as out of touch and pretentious, which rubbed on Kamala’ s already wounded candidature.
Take Away Five: The Rear View Mirror Can Also Provide Valuable Lessons
A mistake team Harris may have made was to not look back carefully at the strategies of past winners and losers. They could have studied successful campaigns, such as those of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and President Biden, as well as the unsuccessful efforts of Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump in 2020. This historical perspective might have provided valuable insights for invaluable lessons lie in victory and defeat. An author they could have consulted is Van Jones, the CNN political commenter and author of the book, Beyond The Messy Truth written in 2017 after the 2016 loss of Hilary to Trump. He wrote,‘ It is tough to acknowledge the fact that Hilary Clinton and the Democratic Party simply did not speak to America’ s anxieties the way Trump did. Trump had a few viable solutions to back his words, but he did directly address the fears and anguish of millions who feel caught in the grinding gears of a changing world. Hilary Clinton had substance but sometimes her words sounded hollow. Hilary Clinton is not the only liberal Democrat- despite being a child of the middle class- who has lost with the sensibilities of the Middle America. America’ s problems are bigger than Donald Trump. And they long predate his rise. In fact, the same political parties that are failing the country today- and the same political dynasties and elites that screamed the most against Trump’ s ascendance- created the mess that opened the door for him in the first place.’ One can substitute the name Hilary with Kamala and the article will still be relevant. Incidentally, and ironically, Van’ s was a special advisor to Obama.
Had the party looked at one strategy that Obama employed in 2008, of painting Senator McCain as a clone of the then- President Bush, she may have tried to disentangle herself from President Biden. By failing to acknowledge there could be lessons from the past and learning from the same, the Democratic Party repeated some of the mistakes Hilary made in 2016 and did not leverage some of Obama’ s useful strategies.
As I come to the end of this article the lingering question is“ What is next for the Democrats?”
Andrew Cuomo, a TV journalist anchor at News Nation, explores why focusing on cultural issues over economic concerns hurt Kamala’ s chances, the impact of identity politics on voter perception, and how Trump’ s coalition capitalized on grievances. More importantly, he challenges Democrats to reconnect with working-class voters, address economic pain, and avoid alienating the majority by overemphasizing niche issues.
Audie Cornish on her podcast, The Assignment, had this to say:‘ This is not a moment for instant analyses the stakes are too high. I was wrong, so far off. My decades of work were useless to me. I need to spend some real alone time talking to people who are smarter than me to realise where I went wrong.’ Even the insiders and consultants don’ t have all the answers simply because they were not hearing the voices of everyday Americans. The party ' s message simply did not land.
However, I think it is more than just reaching and talking to the working class. The Party must come up with ideas that reduce the inequality in America as it is a source of resentment among the working class making them receptive to the likes of Trump. For is it not ironical that Trump, a billionaire who hangs out and rewards his ilk such as Elon Musk and reduced taxes for the rich during his term could resonate and energise the working class? Talk of irony. In his book Dream Hoarders, Richard Reeves says the divide between the working class and the upper Middle class is fracturing the country, generating legitimate resentment from those excluded.
In conclusion, I must say that Kamala deserves our respect for fighting hard within a very short time and against many odds, some not of her making. When it comes to disentangling herself from President Biden maybe she was damned if she did and damned if she did not. Had she done so, she might have been perceived as ungrateful and disloyal to her boss and the Democratic Party. As she watched him face humiliation while being " urged " to step aside, she likely felt that distancing herself from him would be like pouring salt on a wound. Instead, she chose loyalty to him and the party over her own ambitions. As we say where I come from, the mountain, if you want to know a home, ask those who sleep in it, not a visitor. Simply put the wearer of the shoe knows where it pinches.
Could things have been different if she had understood the ground better, chosen the right media, re-branded by disentangling from President Biden, been more agile, changed her message to reflect the reality on the ground and focused on both women and men? We shall never know, maybe she was just on the wrong side of history, and the jury is still out there. What is clear is that The Democrats have work to do.‘ Kazi kwao.’
What about President-elect Trump and the Republican Party? This second time around Trump has managed to change the Grand Old Party( GOP) to the Grand New Party. In the first term, all he did was solidify his base by galvanising and motivating them to come out just in the right numbers and in the right places. So he won the College Votes but not the popular vote. But this time he has done even better transforming the Party from being associated with the wealthy and white suburban upper middle class to being a party that represents a much more diverse coalition. It now consists of more blue-collar workers with fewer collegeeducated voters and a more multi-racial coalition. Never since the days of Ronald Reagan has the Republican Party been in such a good space.
Lastly, I think America which has been controlled by two parties is ripe for a strong third party and there is space for one. Why do I say this? Two reasons: The first is the growing number of those who sit on the coach, that are not motivated to vote as they may think none of the candidates are worth the effort, double haters as they are called. In this election voter turnout was only 60 % one of the lowest ever. Apathy always has a reason.
Secondly are the large number votes the third party or so could independent candidates got. Out of the seven I was able to Google the top 4, including the perennial Jill Stein running on Green Party, Chase Oliver, Robert F. Kennedy, though he withdrew was still on the ballot in some states, Cornwell West, Randall Terry, Claudia De La Cruz got total combined votes of about 3 million. If one adds the ones who‘ sat out at home’ it may indicate that a strong third party could have a large impact. They may not win but can be king makers like Perot was in 1992. This is a wild thought worthy of debate as I put the final full stop to this article or is it a thesis? You decide, over to you!
Robert Wamai is a trainer and advertising consultant, a passionate consumer advocate and believer in the power of brands. You can engage him on this or related matters via email at: Wamairobert51 @ gmail. com.