The selling of Kamala: Part I – the happy warrior
[NOTE: I called this “Part I” because I have so many thoughts on the subject that I plan a multi-parter. The title is a riff on this book.]
In some ways, the Kamala Harris campaign may have been brilliant so far. The Democrats were faced with a really knotty problem – what to do about Joe – and they maneuvered around it without apparently alienating more of their base, and to the relief of those people who were heartily sick of both Trump and Biden.
Whether the resultant bump for Harris is real, and whether it will last, I can’t say. But I do know it’s gone far more swimmingly than I imagined it would, given the raw material with which they had to work.
They’ve tapped into an exhaustion with the previous candidates, a bait-and-switch move accomplished by sleight of hand in which the youngish Harris was substituted for the elderly and doddering Biden, leaving the somewhat-elderly Trump standing alone in the “old white guy” category. Previously, he could present himself as a more energetic and somewhat more youthful alternative to the obviously impaired Biden. Now, in contrast to Kamala, it’s Trump who seems somewhat old. I’m not criticizing him for that; it would be true of any 78-year-old, however vigorous for his or her age.
What’s more, they somehow did it without – at least so far – activating a sense of boredom with the fact that it’s Kamala we’ve just had nearly four years of – and that they’ve been a bad four years, at that. She didn’t just come out of a cave; she’s been the VP all this time. The fact that she’s done almost nothing – and certainly nothing of which to be proud – while in office, is somehow made into a virtue because it means that she can act somewhat as that blank screen Obama used to talk about, despite the fact that she’s been a vice president and associated with the administration’s policy for all these years. It’s a neat attempt at alchemy. If it works, she might win.
And then there’s the “joy” thing. Harris has been a giggler and an inappropriate laugher, but now that’s repackaged as “joy.” It’s her version of “hope and change.” She doesn’t cackle; she’s joyous, and she’ll make you joyous, too. It probably seems real to many Democrats, who are feeling more joy than they have in at least a year, because they’re no longer worried about Biden’s fading health. Biden who? Don’t have to worry about him or his corrupt son anymore. What a relief!
It’s not unprecedented for Democrats to market themselves as bringers of happiness. In fact, there’s quite a history there – for example, FDR, who peddled happiness amidst hard economic times:
Al Smith:
Here’s a possible theme song for the Harris campaign:
The joyful Kamala! campaign is brilliant stuff, but I don’t believe she can float above the fray forever.
Just as Biden crashed when the cameras were finally upon him and he had no teleprompter, I believe Kamala! will face her reckoning.
You can fool all of the people some of the time, but I’m not sure you can fool most of the people most of the time. Apologies to AL.
A lot, a lot of Americans are a lot more disillusioned than they were four years ago.
Perhaps it’s the classic “so good with no where to go but down”
Kamala is too joyous. When serious, it seems as if she is pretending. Definately does not have the gravitas to lead the country.
She may still win, because people will vote against Trump.
On the other hand, maybe enough people refraining from voting will give Trump a chance.
Much of the concern among those paying attention is both sides being able to say “I told you so”.
Frankly, kinda tired of being called a sexist misogynist, racist Nazi dolt because I didn’t vote for Hillary.
The best strategy is to keep her away from the press and hope they can get 51% of voters to vote against Trump. Let’s call it the Bauxite gambit. They will pursue the best strategy. The press will largely comply.
“She didn’t just come out of a cave.”
I thinky you meant “She didn’t just fall out of a coconut tree.”
“Definitely does not have the gravitas to lead the country.” – fullmoon
I agree.
Gravitas – “Gravitas means seriousness and importance of manner, causing feelings of respect and trust in others.”
Gravitas is often the result of a person having deep experience in the world. Kamala’s experience e is shallow – a lawyer, DA, AG and Senator who advanced primarily because of her willingness to join in the progressive club in California.
She knows little of the world at large, and I believe she knows she lacks that knowledge. The Democrat strategists certainly seem to know it. Otherwise, they would let her do interviews and pressers. She’s probably the candidate with the least gravitas of any who has ever run here in the U.S.
I think the debate will expose her if it doesn’t happen before that.
My worry, like the Bolsheviks pulled over the Russian workers she tells them everything will be better, supplies will get plentiful, everyone will be equal.
Everyone will own nothing,
And the Gulags will get filled up
My nearly 89 year old mother, who can barely speak, told me the gaslighting would be hilarious if the stakes weren’t so high.
It is a two part operation- make Kamalamadingbat look like a world beater and then make the polls look like she can’t lose. The problem is that Kamalamadingbat isn’t a world beater and Trump has proven twice now that mainstream media polls are worthless for predicting his strength. Even oversampling Democrats by pretty ridiculous margins they can’t get the Dingbat to even Hillary levels of poll support- not even close.
The simple truth is that Trump is almost 8 points ahead of where he was polling at the same point in 2016 and 2020. I think Harris will win the popular vote- she will accomplish this with California alone most likely, but unless she is polling at least Hillary levels it is going to be impossible to win the numbers of swing states she needs to win unless the Democrat can double the numbers of mail-in-fraud ballots and I don’t think they can do that absent COVID regulations.
Of course, the joyousness is fake. It’s part of an orchestrated media campaign. Calling Harris and Walz “joyful” dovetails nicely with the other mantra, that Trump’s vision of the America is “dark,” threatening and ominous. Democrats — FDR, Carter, Clinton, Obama, Biden — can say that life under the Republicans was horrible and that they will make things better, and they are called hopeful. Trump gives the same message — things are awful now, but the were better when I was in charge and will be better when I’m elected again — and he’s seen as dark, threatening, and ominous. The mantras are repeated so often that they sink in and people believe them.
I wonder if the “joy” isn’t also somehow playing off against the Obamas. Michelle Obama seemed pretty glum when she wasn’t getting her way, and Barack was also pretty sullen for somebody who was supposed to be the optimistic candidate of hope. Also, should we be at least a bit grateful that Harris is keeping a low profile and letting her cackling do the talking, rather than regaling us with made-up memories of the past all the time like Biden does?
@Yancey Ward:
Today the pollster Rich Baris explained the difference between oversampling and over-representing. Oversampling is fine, he said; for example, a pollster who doesn’t oversample voters in south Florida won’t be able to capture the nuances between and among respondents with Cuban and Venezuelan backgrounds. But the samples must then be properly weighted so that voters with such backgrounds are not over-represented in the poll’s results.
And did you see that the New York Times is now flogging a “global emergency,” starring monkeypox? How very timely and convenient.
Well, I concede I’m the optimistic keep-on-the-sunny-side guy in these parts. But really it’s not over.
A month ago Trump had triumphed over assassination and the Dems were in profound disarray trying to drag the demented Joe Biden over the finish line.
Now it’s different.
A little less than three months to the election doesn’t sound like much time for things to change.
But in 2024 three months is a very long time.
As slightly distinct from “selling” — which isn’t necessarily tainted by malodor — I’m inclined to think of this propagandistic leftist effort as a huckstering.
Oddly, too isn’t it?
For this is precisely the charge these same leftists constantly make against that consumate salesman, Donald Trump!
It’s not hard to be brilliant when the Legacy Press would collectively sell their first born children to get her elected. Republicans need to support Trump but concentrate on the House and Senate. The prospect of her in the White House with both houses in Dem control would be devastating to the country.
This sort of astroturfing does not work. The fundamentals of the race are completely unaffected by this sort of media behavior because it only preaches to the choir. The media don’t have that kind of influence any longer. The race was always going to be decided by two things- how people feel about the policies of the Biden Administration and whether Trump can get enough of the swing states far enough beyond the margin of fraud to keep the Democrats from stealing it and getting away with it.
The looney left vs the loopy left, a freakshow extravaganza on the streets of NYC (turn your volume down, it’s crazytown loud): https://x.com/KyleSeraphin/status/1823891674407559464?t=EG8WpRKDBgQUhh07e0D4zg&s=19
The true happy warriors!
This is just for Neo.
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1823742501884453312
@ Brian E > “The true happy warriors!”
That was fantastic!
Thanks
There is no there there.
Kamala Harris does not exist.
Just like Joe Biden does not exist…and never did—not as president, anyway, which is what we’re talking about.
More specifically, Joe Biden “existed”…until he didn’t.
It was all Democratic Party and—especially MEDIA—puffery.
When the fiction was no longer sustainable, then pop went the weasel.
(Who’s running the country, again? AND does it even matter, where the Democrats are involved? DID IT EVER MATTER?
…No, it’s fiction all the way down. Narrative Uber Alles… and if the Democratic Party perversity continues, it will be for the foreseeable future.)
File under: The weasel is dead. LONG LIVE THE WEASEL!
It’s really frightening and depressing that Kamala Cackling Harris has a good chance to be the next president.
What does this say about the American voters?
What experience does Kamala bring to the table?
What office has she ever held that was not literally given to her as a result of her connections, skin color or gender?
If she becomes president she will achieve two “firsts;” the first female president (this must burn white hot in Hillary Clinton’s nether reaches), and be the dumbest, most stupid, and most ignorant president in US history. She has already succeeded in being the most ignorant and dumb VP in US history.
I am not merely mocking her when I describe her as stupid, dumb and ignorant. I am actually describing her intellectual attributes.
Regardless, she has a good chance of becoming president. Putin, China , Iran, Venezuela and the CPUSA cannot believe their luck.
Kamala got a boost in the polls because she isn’t Biden and she isn’t Trump; a lot of voters would support almost anybody rather than those two.
To actually win, she’ll have to convince people that she actually stands for something. There’s an old rule that you can’t beat somebody with nobody.
And I thought Hubert Humphrey was the first ” Happy Warrior” or Alf Landon.
“Don’t Worry Be Happy” was the official campaign song of the 1988 G.W.H.Bush campaign, over Bobby McFerrin’s objections. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Worry,_Be_Happy#Use_by_the_George_Bush_campaign) It seems to have worked!
@ John Tyler: “the first female president (this must burn white hot in Hillary Clinton’s nether reaches), and be the dumbest, most stupid, and most ignorant president in US history. ”
I suspect Hillary thought she was also the smartest woman to ever grace Yale’s hallowed halls, so seeing a real dumpster get the gold would be a double rankle.
@ Barry > “Who’s running the country, again?”
https://babylonbee.com/news/meet-brynleigh-the-white-house-intern-running-the-country-today
I think that Harris may be responding to things like this:
https://notthebee.com/article/watch-philadelphia-woman-is-brought-to-tears-when-asked-how-much-inflation-has-hurt-her-the-last-few-years
“I blame the federal government … If a working class mom who works as a paralegal cannot by a $2 bell pepper because it’s now $5, imagine a mother living with food stamps. Imagine a mother working minimum wage trying to feed children.”
Not The Bee expounded: “My two cents? This is where voting for the “compassionate” Democrats lands you. They’re going to run a campaign of joy, free stuff, hope, and all it gets you is misery.”
But the Democrats, as others have noted above, intends to blame everyone and everything EXCEPT the federal government (which at the moment is THEM).
And a lot of voters will believe the gaslighting, not the facts.
It seems clear that most of what Harris says is scripted, and especially, her interactions with Walz are scripted to the point of extreme cringe.
There’s a pulp novel from 1954 that posits a future United States run by communications specialists…sophisticated advertising & PR men who rule by persuading the public that they really want what they are supposed to want. They even have a computer to assist them.
We seem to be headed in that direction, and the Harris/Walz campaign is definitely an indicator.
I reviewed the book in 2021 and updated the review last year with some additional commentary.
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/69852.html