The essays that I’ve written for Bad Dogs and Bakeries about the 2024 presidential election are all pretty pessimistic – honest and realistic but ultimately pessimistic. So this is an attempt to find a bright side.
It’s for the best that Kamala Harris lost the presidential election. She would have been a terrible president and none of us who would love to see a woman as commander-in-chief one day want to see the first female president fail. She would have been the first and probably the last.
To be honest, Kamala Harris is a lightweight who, through luck and circumstances more than smarts and ability, managed to rise to the vice presidency. She’s the Democrats’ Dan Quayle. No one who could get into Spelman goes to Howard. No one who could get into Stanford Law School or Berkeley Law goes to Hastings. And no one who could get a job at a decent law firm goes to work at the DA’s office.
Had Harris won the election and become president, she would have run for reelection in 2028 – no matter how unsuccessful her first term had been. This would have blocked many smart and talented Democrats from seeking the presidency until 2032 – when they would have likely been running against a Republican incumbent. Her loss opens up the 2028 Democratic presidential primary field to all comers and may produce a terrific Democratic nominee to run against the Republican nominee – either J.D. Vance or Donald Trump, Jr. So 2028 will be a much brighter time for Democrats because of Harris’ loss – provided, of course, that the country survives the next four years, and provided that we’re still holding elections in 2028.
