Harris Hits a Home Run

I’m leaving for the airport in three hours, haven’t packed, and have all sorts of other things to do before taking off. But I’m so high on account of Kamala Harris’s debate performance this evening that I have to post.

Up to the Task

Did she have it in her? I’ll confess to having had that doubt before the debate. I didn’t fear that she was up to being president. Rather, it was whether tonight she could best a sociopathic master of manipulation.

She didn’t just best him. She hit the ball out of the park.

Now, I’ll grant that there were several moments that I wish she’d handled a bit better – for instance, her failure to blast Trump for repeatedly praising Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban, who’s taking his great country down the tubes. But that’s easy for me to say; I wasn’t up there on stage staring down the living, breathing embodiment of a brutal banana republic, someone who’d take our country and our world backwards as best he can.

And much more to the point…

She Showed Her Strength

Let’s look at all that Harris got right:

She was positive. Again and again, Harris contrasted her faith in the future and moving forward with Trump’s dystopian obsession with the past and the supposed problems plaguing us. Again and again, she asked and reminded us about our being tired of Trump’s hate, division and recrimination. She offered a positive alternative to all that.

She was passionate. Especially about abortion. But also about women’s rights more generally and the direction our country needs to take. The takeaway? She cares. And she’ll fight.

She was presidential. That’s the second greatest challenge Harris needs to confront: the often unspoken concern about whether she’s up to the job, especially given that so many Americans know so little about her even after three-plus years as Vice President.

By being positive, passionate, composed, commanding and in command of the facts, she showed that she’s got a lot of what it takes. But to appear presidential, she needed to meet her greatest challenge, which was to show that…

She was strong. That’s the greatest single challenge Harris has had to meet. Americans want to know that a president can deal with intense pressure and with  bullies at home and especially abroad. Even in 2024, some may still harbor deep doubts about whether a woman can fill the bill. Harris went toe to toe with the biggest bully of them all – keeping him on his heels and repeatedly hammering home the point that he’s weak and disrespected across the globe.

Even Fox News

The upshot? She came out ahead, with even conservative outlets such as the National Review and Fox Senior Curmudgeon Brit Hume  offering her grudging praise.

And all this even though ABC’s weak-kneed moderators let Trump interject unauthorized replies time after time, apparently tossing aside the debate rules that shut off each candidate’s microphone after a minute or two. This allowed Trump to accumulate in excess of five minutes more speaking time than Harris. When Harris tried to similarly  interject at one point, the moderators cut her off.

Fortunately, Trump wasted those extra five minutes, as with most of the debate, ranting about the same tired points that may bore some undecided voters.

Now, will this difference in debate performance make a difference? After all, the Biden Administration’s accomplishments and economic successes have barely dented Americans’ perceptions, leaving the race in a dead heat that could end up favoring Trump in the crucial swing states that decide the race.

And Hillary lost despite beating Trump in their 2016 debates.

And Trump’s points, even as weak as some may seem, do score poiints with certain Americans.

And let’s face it: Being a Black/Asian woman isn’t exactly an advantage for an American presidential candidate, including in parts of some swing states.

Up to Us

But she still clobbered him and demonstrated that she’s got what it takes to run, win and govern. Even if this doesn’t generate a big polling bounce, at the very least Harris’s performance and the emerging widespread press praise for it should galvanize donations and activism on her behalf. That’s no small thing in an election that could hinge not just on persuading the middle but turning out the base vote.

Plus, there’s this: The most significant development during this momentous evening might not even be the debate, but Taylor Swift’s swift post-debate endorsement of Harris. With 283 million online followers, the world’s biggest pop star just might fuel a bit of Kamala momentum.

Harris is doing her part. The rest is up to us, in terms of what we donate, whether we weather the inevitable, upcoming ups and downs and, most of all,  what actions we take to make sure that this pivotal moment has lasting impact.