Why Kamala Harris Never Belonged on the National Stage
I’ve spent a career where results matter. You either accomplish the mission or you don’t. By that standard, Kamala Harris has never been ready for primetime, and her post-election memoir tour just underlines it.
A politician built for set pieces, lost off-script
Even sympathetic outlets admit Harris can only hit her marks when the moment is tightly scripted. Dave Weigel’s read of her new book, 107 Days, boils it down: she “succeeds in the planned moments” (debate, convention) and flails when she has to go “off book.” That’s not a quirk; it’s a leadership problem. Presidents don’t get cue cards in a crisis.
Look at her own messaging. The word-salad reputation didn’t come from nowhere. Remember the “significance of the passage of time” riff—repeated over and over in one short appearance? That’s not a gotcha; it’s a pattern. Leaders communicate clarity under pressure. Harris radiates rehearsal, and when the script slips, so does she.
The record the press keeps trying to wish away
Supporters keep insisting she was kneecapped by circumstances. Let’s review the tape.
Couldn’t win her own party. In 2020 she dropped out before a single vote was cast in Iowa, citing lack of money and support. That’s the base passing.
Historically unpopular. By mid-2023, NBC’s polling series showed her with the lowest net rating of any VP in that poll’s history—49% negative, 32% positive (-17). That didn’t happen by accident.
The border portfolio. The White House tapped her in 2021 to lead diplomatic work on “root causes” in Central America. The politics were hers to manage, and she never found a lane. She told would-be migrants “Do not come,” drawing fire from her own side, then visited the border once and never owned the issue. Even outlets that defend the scope of her role concede the optics were a mess.
Again: this isn’t about ideology. It’s about basic political competence. She didn’t show it.
The memoir confirms what voters already sensed
Harris’s 107 Days was supposed to reset her story. Instead, it reads like a long grievance with no strategic lesson learned. Reviews from the left and center say the quiet part out loud: no catharsis, no plan, just blame. The Guardian’s headline: “no closure, no hope.”
Her own interviews don’t help. On MSNBC with Rachel Maddow, Harris said she now “shoulders some blame” for the “recklessness” of pushing forward with Biden’s reelection but then turned around and insisted her controversial decision not to pick Pete Buttigieg was simply “strategic caution.” That’s not accountability; that’s a poll-tested shrug.
And then there’s the running-mate story. The book tries to justify passing on strong options and landing on Tim Walz. How’d that work out? Within weeks, Walz was walking back his own embellished anecdotes about Tiananmen and taking heat over his service claims—exactly the sort of drag a serious vetting should have anticipated.
No vision, no coalition, no win
Weigel again nails the bigger problem: the book offers “no advice for how Democrats fix their problems and win.” That’s consistent with how Harris campaigned—hugging a shaky status quo, shadowboxing “democracy” as a slogan, and never articulating a clear, conviction-based program that could expand beyond the blue bubble.
Yes, her favorables briefly improved inside the Democratic tent in summer 2024. Gallup recorded the boost. But independents never came with her in the numbers a national candidate needs, and the floor fell out again as the race hardened.
The leadership test she keeps failing
Leaders do three things well:
Own the hard missions (don’t run from them or redefine them after the fact).
Communicate clearly under stress (no buzzword fog).
Make personnel and strategy decisions that age well (because judgment is the job).
On all three, Harris keeps grading out below the line. The 2020 flame-out, the vice-presidential drift, the border portfolio optics, the memoir tour—together they paint a picture the press can’t launder: a politician built for friendly rooms and pre-baked moments, not the unforgiving main stage.
That’s why Kamala Harris doesn’t belong on the national stage. Not because of who she is, but because of what she’s shown us, repeatedly, when the lights are brightest and the script runs out.
Excellent piece. Spot-on analysis. 👍