Analysis: Kamala Harris Turned Away From Economic Populism

[applegrove]

Analysis: Kamala Harris Turned Away From Economic Populism

BY MILAN LOEWER JARED ABBOTT

Pressed by influential corporate advisors, Kamala Harris ran away from a winning economic populist message and ended up losing a campaign. We have the proof.

https://jacobin.com/2024/11/harris-campaign-economic-populism-democracy

"SNIP............

This year’s presidential election hinged on a few hundred thousand voters across a handful of key swing states, and no one can claim to have known the outcome in advance. Yet the tectonic shift of working-class voters away from Democrats was all too predictable. In fact, the Harris campaign seemed deliberately designed to accelerate trends in working-class dealignment.

The vice president’s bid was premised on the risky bet that catering to moderate, college-educated voters would win more support than it would lose in working-class defections. That gamble backfired massively. Instead of expanding the Democratic coalition to bring in a larger share of the working-class vote in critical swing states where working-class voters make up a large majority of the electorate, Kamala Harris saw her only gains among college-educated white voters, and for the first time, Democrats received a higher share of votes from high- compared to low-income Americans.

Battle lines have already been drawn between factions of the Democratic coalition to explain Harris’s loss. On the one hand, some have admonished Democrats for failing to connect with the real economic anxieties and sense of cultural alienation from the Democratic Party felt by many working-class voters. This was forcefully expressed by Bernie Sanders, who railed that “it should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.”

Similar critiques were proffered by Thomas Frank, Senator Chris Murphy, and even New York Times columnist David Brooks, who conceded that

I’m a moderate who really did not like the policies that Bernie Sanders proposes. And yet . . . it could be that in order to win working-class votes in an era of high distrust, the Democrats have to do a lot of things that Bernie Sanders said they should do.

..........SNIP"

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. "who really did not like the policies that Bernie Sanders proposes."

Which ones?

[yardwork]

64. Brooks is a complete asshole. I don't believe a word he says.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

65. I was asking applegrove about their comment.

[yardwork]

66. That is a quote from David Brooks.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

67. aha ty

[Tweedy]

2. Actually, VP Harris embraced the

extremely successful progressive populist policies of Joe Biden.

Our country’s economy is the envy of the world although jacobin certainly seems to have missed that, along with much of our clickbait press.

[Bluetus]

7. "Embraced"?

She certainly mentioned them in passing and never criticized them. But if you were a Martian sent to observe the candidate for a week, I'm not sure that you would report back to the Head Imperial Martian that this campaign was about economics. It seems to me, that Martian is more likely to have reported that the campaign was about a bunch of vague concepts, like "We're not going back" and "the other guys are weird, that's all", with the only clearly enunciated point of distinction being "We want abortions any day, any time." THAT was the message that was the centerpiece of every stump speech.

But all of that is just a symptom of the bigger problem, which is that the Beltway people really don't get that Americans are furious, and have been increasingly so for 40+ years. Working Americans have gotten screwed. The biggest corporations and richest individuals have taken over our government and use the power of government to send trillions of dollars their way while working Americans have to work multiple jobs with practically no job security, no health care security, no retirement security, or any other kind of security.

Trump understood the anger. Yes, his policies (build a wall, tariffs, etc) will make things worse, but it doesn't really matter. At least he was talking to the people about what they were feeling.

I mean, was there a single speech where Harris said it is time to go back to a tax system where rich people and corporations pay their fair share? She might have mentioned it, but I never heard it. Did she ever say, "In the Harris administration, we will roll back all those tax breaks that Trump gave to billionaires."? Did she ever say, "We will pass a windfall profits tax that claws back the hundreds of billions of windfall profits corporations have taken through price-gouging while the country was trying to recover from COVID."? I heard nothing like this. Did she ever say, "The Biden administration won the ability for Medicare to negotiate for lower insulin prices and a few other drugs. In my administration, ALL drugs will be negotiated. And we will make it illegal for drug companies to charge Americans more than they charge for the exact same drugs in England, Canada, France and the other Western democracies."?

The problem is, the Beltway creatures think the current system is fine. It is not fine. Americans are getting screwed. And Corporations think that is a great idea, so they were prepared to punish Harris if she ever dared to say anything like that.

Love or hate Bernie, but we need a Democrat to actually run a campaign like that and see what happens.

[B.See]

12. "...with the only clearly enunciated point of distinction being "We want abortions any day, any time." "

This, imo, is a gross mischaracterization of Kamala's and the Democratic party's position on women's abortion rights.

[Tweedy]

42. It is assuredly what the GOP falsely claimed

Unfortunately, the GOP is at war with efficacious medical procedures now so women who need a d&c are not getting one.

Making hemorrhage deadly again. This is the GOP’s latest calling card.

[Tweedy]

41. Actually, working Americans did best under the Biden/Harris administration

You would think people would have noticed this. I certainly thought people would. Did you notice?

Misinformation lost the election for us. The news deserts of the country voted for the incoming fellow apparently believing his every lie.

[Bluetus]

44. Misinformation, Disinformation and the abiding belief that

nobody would be so stupid as to not see the obvious. How many times must we learn this lesson? People really are that stupid and we really do have to explain these things over and over.

[Tweedy]

50. People are not stupid.

You are right about the need to explain, though.

I do not know how some are so successfully separated from their lived experience, but I know their delusions are not caused by stupidity.

Conversing with the deluded is a challenge in of itself, though. I am still working on it. There are so many versions of nonsensical facts that have been spewed into our brains I cannot say for certain I am not marinating in a few. The Republican frame (the frame of the kakistocracy) has been eating at our reason for most of my life.

Once more we are about to “try” trickle down economics even though trickle down economics has never worked anywhere. We think crime is up when it is down. Some of us want to punt Dr. Fauci when this is the same man who developed aids treatments that make hiv undetectable and now even the promise of vaccines for cancer.

Dr. Fauci and scientists like him deserve huzzahs. They are incredible. Yet, some of those wanting Dr. Fauci’s brilliant, life saving head are intelligent by every measure that we use to measure an IQ.

Some of us are like the frogs boiling in the water, listless, furious and yet, uncertain who done it, or even what they have done. These can be people holding multiple degrees! They can be celebrities or techies who have been deluded that anti-trust laws are actually petty people trying to stop success.

Truly techbros believe anti-trust laws are anti-success pettiness. Apparently, they skipped playing monopoly? Know no history? Had terrible dungeon masters in D&D?

These notions are delusions. These delusions are carefully crafted by the wingnut welfare to rwm to msm circuit.

We need to wreck the delusion with lived reality.

[Bluetus]

60. Basically, I agree with what you are saying

And you don't want to use the word "stupid" to describe people who are more interested in fantasy football, beer, and whatever than informing themselves about the things that really make a difference to their lives. I know many people are naturally much more polite than me, and adhere to the "attract more with honey than vinegar" approach. In my view, we haven't done very well with honey for the past 50 years. And the fact that Republicans can be anywhere near the levers of power is proof that vinegar works.

I would agree that it is not terribly productive to approach impossibly stupid people with "Hey 'shit for brains', let me tell you something ..." But we must understand these people are either deeply brainwashed or just don't see us as having any solutions to the things they are most angry about -- or both. I don't think we get anywhere trying to coddle, sweet-talk, or reason with them. We need to be 1000x more direct in our rhetoric, IMHO.

[Tweedy]

70. I have been about as direct as a person can be

Most of the people with whom I converse are well educated. Most of them can do many things I cannot. The misinformation out there is flying thick and furiously. The educated are not immune.

The worst thing I do is become agitated by the falsehoods. That turns off the conversation faster than if I do call someone stupid. Conversely, I am called stupid and soft headed routinely by red faced folks who can hardly contain their annoyance with me. The GOP has enabled people to be rude and crude while simultaneously taking offense over stuff and absolute nonsense.

These are in person discussions too. The internet seems to be a place where cogent discussions venture to blow up into angry rants.

I continue to work on my communication skills and maintaining a calm disposition regardless of the provocation.

[dutch777]

32. Plus added tax credits for starting small business, first time homebuyers and increasing corp taxes

Problem was she was too little too late. That looked like desperation proposals that we might have had a leg up with had we rolled that out two years before the election, not two months. Sure, the Repugs would have stonewalled 95% of it in Congress but we could have said we tried AND we will keep trying and REPUGS ARE THE PROBLEM. Kamala was punished for what Dems did not do or at least try to do in the prior four years. Not to say good things weren't done but they didn't address concerns or get felt by the majority of the electorate before the election. And yes, some of those good things take years to come to fruition but folks will take the stupid $75 a year immediate tax cut and smile at the instant gratification and vote accordingly. Stupid? Yep. Also a sad reality we chose to ignore at our political peril.

[Tweedy]

40. ??

The democrats gave families with kids a lot for than $87 a year back in their paychecks. If people like that measly tax cut so much, they should have loved the larger one the democrats gave a ton of them.

The problem is misinformation. This is an information war.

[Bettie]

61. And the other side

is dominant on all of the media.

Even the so-called "liberal" outlets have many more right wing guests than they do left-leaning.

Getting our message out is difficult because the legacy media doesn't cover it and algorithms in other forms tend to boost right wing narratives.

[Tweedy]

71. True.

I will quibble a bit, however.

I don’t want to get a message out.
I want to get the truth out there. I don’t have a “brand”. I am a person using my reason and common sense.

The GOP is always massaging their “message” the better to lie to us. One of the GOP’s messages is that everything is business. That is a bald faced lie that our ancestors would have seen coming a mile away.

That is not what I want. I want the truth to out.

[MichMan]

57. Those things appeal to a small subset of voters and likely did reek of desperation to some.

Unless you are a first time home buyer or have a plan on starting a small business, neither of those have any effect on the struggles people are dealing with daily. People have been complaining about prices of everything going up 20% the last 3 years, being told that since inflation is now down to more traditional levels, no worries, even though they are still paying much higher prices compared with before. They are going to blame the current administration, just like we would be hanging it all on Trump if he was in office. It's just how it is. More of the status quo just wasn't going to cut it.

Then, when asked about what Harris would do different than Biden, she struggled to come up with anything. There were zero excuses for the campaign not being able to provide a coherent answer on a question they knew was coming. Why were they not prepared? Who would have guessed that being interviewed on The View would end up being problematic ?

Finally, how does raising corporate taxes help the average American ? Why wouldn't they just get passed on to consumers just like tariffs would?

[jalan48]

3. Did Bernie ever appear with her at a campaign event?

[Autumn]

8. I seriously doubt he was invited. Had he been invited I'm sure he would have.

They were going for a younger vibe. A lot of younger celebs.

[jalan48]

9. If true, it was a foolish mistake on her part.

[Autumn]

22. He campaigned for her several times.

HARRISBURG, Pa, Erie, Pa., Madison, Wisconsin with AOC, Oshkosh WI, Curtiss Hall at Saginaw Valley State University, MARQUETTE, Mich. and other places. If she didn't invite him it was a foolish mistake. Bernie is very popular in a lot of places and with a lot of people, not so much so with some moderates

[Silent Type]

4. Kind of hard to go from people are living "paycheck to paycheck," to the economy is perfect

as election approached.

I suspect more than a few low info trump voters bought into “no taxes on overtime, tips, or Social Security” and a million other lies.

[misanthrope]

52. What they didn't know was "no taxes on Social Security"

would be achieved by eradicating Social Security.

[Wiz Imp]

5. Bull Shit

[betsuni]

20. Yes. Absurd.

[ColinC]

6. Yeah well what do we do...

[Lunabell]

10. Nothing

We are peons. Corporations have all the power now. The rich get richer and we get table scraps...again.

[ColinC]

11. Or -and this might sound crazy but..Perhaps if more people...

Wanted somebody who ran on economic populism, maybe more people can -gasp! Run on economic populism 🤔

[Lunabell]

13. Ha!

I wish. But, look at the grief people give AOC and Bernie on here. That won't happen.

[ColinC]

14. If we all do it, there wont be nearly enough grief to go around

Everybody who wants to see permanent positive, strong democratic and economic reform needs to consider putting themselves out there to make it happen.

[Lunabell]

15. I've been trying for almost 50 years.

I pass the torch.

[ColinC]

16. I have been trying... never. Perhaps I should take it ?

[Lunabell]

19. Oh, man. Yes!

I've marched. I've canvassed, knocked on doors. I've made calls and prepared and mailed post cards. I've keyboard warriored. I've rallied. I've escorted women patients to their abortion appointments.

I'm tired. I'm still going to be engaged, but not active anymore. I'm just so damned tired. Physically, mentally and emotionally.

[Lunabell]

21. Look at this post.

There are still folks who either aren't listening, or refuse to listen. Until they wise up about economic issues, bread and butter, kitchen table working class issues, we won't win.

Too much corporate power. Too many billionaires. Too much wealth in one teeny tiny corner off the world. Too many wealty people in politics who are not held to account.

[JohnSJ]

23. and so the people ended up voting for the sociopath and all those billionaires who are anti-Labor.

[Lunabell]

24. Yep. They did.

They fell for their empty promise of a great economy with tax cuts for the "job creators." And they loved the racism and the xenophobia. They actually think that the fat orange blobfather is not a part of that swamp. That he's "real" and talks like a real person. I don't get it.

[JI7]

28. Maybe it's just racism and misogyny

they have no problem with white immigrants. They have no problem with wealthy whites .

But Beyonce and Oprah are elitist.

Maybe stop making excuses for them by claiming they are hurting and that's why they are forced to support wealthy white people.

It's just bs.

[Lunabell]

29. What?

I didn't say that at all. What's wrong with you?

[JI7]

31. I'm not saying you said all that. I'm referring to those claiming it's economic issues

and showing the reality .

The anti immigrant sentiment is becsuse most are non white.

The Haitians in Ohio were working class but they hated them and accused them of eating pets. And we are supposed to believe it's about the economy for them.

[Lunabell]

35. Why can't it be more than one reason?

It is a complex situation, not easily put into one category of what went wrong.

[JI7]

36. It can . Inflation hurt for sure but these people weren't upset

over specific policy. It was things like housing or food being expensive and not about policy.

[Cosmocat]

45. This

nm

[Keepthesoulalive]

55. This has been going on since regan

Americans have been asleep for over 40 years
The Supreme Court, greed is good, trickle down economics, welfare queens, union busting and most Americans were alright with it. They removed all the safeguards we had since the Great Depression. The rich kept changing laws and bribing everyone from the Supreme Court to legislators everywhere. The main thing is the American people were still alright with it and now we see the endgame and it isn’t pretty. Blame the American people for being mesmerized by bullshit and believing con artists.

[Scrivener7]

17. Jesus. These "analyses" get worse every day.

Racism and sexism, kids. Look at the numbers.

[applegrove]

30. There could be more than one or two reasons keeping

People home. There could be 5 or 10. People may not be conscious of it all.

[JI7]

34. This doesn't claim multiple reasons. Jacobin is a fucking joke

[applegrove]

37. I think it is good to get different pov. I will take your advice

and not look for their articles in the future but some of the stuff in this article reminds me of what this NYTimes article is saying:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/28/opinion/wolfgang-streeck-populism.html

[JI7]

38. Harris would have beat a non white candidate or a white woman

that behaved like Trump.

Sarah Palin was far less offensive than Trump but people had no problem rejecting her.

And mark Robinson.

[SunImp]

48. "I think it is good to get different pov"

Agreed. It's better to do that then be another baby ostrich that can't get over the past.

[uponit7771]

68. Yep, the NC MAGA lost big acting similar to TFG but he was black ... that didn't go too well

[JohnSJ]

18. Jacobin is a left wing anti-Democratic party rag. F**k this crap. Everyone has

a reason why Kamala lost, these so-called “experts” are all coming out of the woodwork.

We were undermined by the Green Party in 2000, and in 2016 the David Sirotas, Nina turners, Brianna Joy gray, Cornell west, etc. were always happy to go on various programs on MSNBC, CNN, Democracy Now, along with Jill Stein to not only criticize the Democratic Party, but to encourage others to not vote Democratic because “there was no difference between Democrats and republicans. It didn’t take much either, in 2016 Hillary lost those critical swing states by less than 1%, while in those critical swing states Jill Stein received 1% of the vote. It made a difference and we lost the SC because of that.

and for those who say we lost the SC because RBG didn't stop down before the 2016 election so President Obama could appoint a replacement. The problem with that though in 2014 the republicans controlled the Senate, and there is no indication that they would have allowed President Obama to appoint a replacement for RBG as evidenced when McConnell blocked President Obama's appointment after the death of Scalia in 2016.

[Cha]

43. I thought so.. anything from jacobin is Gaslit Bullshit.

They smell blood in the water.. fuck them.

[Blue_Tires]

25. Please stop...

I'm going to keep on saying it until people get it through their skulls:

This election was not decided by "the issues", and anyone who says there wasn't a populist economic message just wasn't paying attention. Too many people's memories are getting selective AF...

(And regardless, we shouldn't need some perfectly tailored populist message to beat a literal white supremacist conman criminal who speaks nothing but lies, disinfo and other jibberish!)

This is just more agitprop bullshit from Jacobin because they're still red-assed about the 2016 primary and they're too scared to admit who's really at fault here 😐

[Cosmocat]

46. Correct

nm

[Clouds Passing]

26. RUSSIA

[elleng]

27. 'Harris campaign seemed deliberately designed to accelerate trends in working-class dealignment'

REALLY???

[JohnSJ]

33. Exactly. It makes no sense

[Scrivener7]

39. Right? What the hell are these people talking about? It's moronic.

[emulatorloo]

58. Typical Jacobin anti-Democratic gobbledegook

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gobbledygook

wordy and generally unintelligible jargon.

[andym]

47. Harris just needed to promote change, because Joe Biden was getting blamed for higher costs of living

according to every poll post November 2021-- when his favorability polling fell to 40% and below and stayed there. She would have had to differentiate herself from Biden and Bidenomics .

Trump won on Doom and Change. Harris ran on Hope and Stay-the-Course. As Obama has shown Hope and Change is the strongest winning combination, especially when folks were unhappy about the increased cost-of-living.

[SunImp]

49. Yep, people wanted some change

Having a republican in your cabinet isn't enough

[uponit7771]

69. ☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾THIS !!!☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾

[Jack Valentino]

51. She DID, and that was a mistake.

I recall posting something about it about 7 days before the election,
saying that she needed to go "ALL-IN" on leftward economic populism....

I didn't know at the time that her Uber friend had caused her shift against it.

[RandySF]

53. No

[mvd]

54. I've said that.

although I feel Kamala was a very good candidate, the campaign could have done a few things better. Fewer Repukes like Liz Cheney campaigning. I did hear economic messages in her speeches, but they are somewhat quick and not reinforced much.

As for Jacobin, yes they are Socialist and won’t always agree with Democrats. But I read them sometimes for the left point of view. At times I disagree with them.

[JI7]

59. Speaking about high rate of black women dying due to racism in health care

is turning away from economic populism.

A black female candidate spoke about an issue that affects her group like no other candidate did before and people are offended.

[travelingthrulife]

62. Nonsense.

[NameAlreadyTaken]

63. Who does the Democratic Party WANT to support the interests of?