Below ate the bullet points of a post I drafted on Nov. 6 at 5:51 pm. For reasons apparent I did not put meat to these bones. However, as with all normal beings who do their best thinking in the shower, for reasons known only to the creator of my species, I wish to add this bullet to the previous points:
-I don't know the answer to this question: Was Kamala Harris delegitimized to some extent by her undemocratic ascension? Chuck Schumer and Jim Clyburn wanted a mini-primary or some imprimatur of democratic legitimacy. Hillary Clinton suffered from "heir apparent" status although she competed in and won the democratic primaries and the nomination. Still, Americans gave the side eye to undemocratic super delegates who were ballast to her campaign. Jeb Bush had the same strike against him. On the one hand, democratic theory is that only democracy confers legitimacy on a leader. On the other, I don't know about you, but I personally have never considered my fellow Americans to be particularly theoretical types know what I mean? And on the other Kamala shot out of the gates like a rocket and Americans swooned at the shock and awe. She had a lead in the polls after the convention that, were they accurate, probably would have been enough to complete her ascension to the presidency. But on the first hand Americans don't like a Jamaican Black Southeast Asian woman being shoved down their throats; an old white guy they can swallow. It is for this last reason that, seeing my previous first bullet point (I haven't read the rest), I think racism and sexism was decisive.
Nov. 6, 5:51 pm
-Racism and sexism.
-Being in the out-crowd, wanting to be in the in-crowd.
-Gresham's Law. The Big Lie, repeated endlessly.
-non-stop campaigning vs Biden governing, not campaigning.
-structurally: failing to obey the political laws of the Trump era. For the third consecutive presidential election, the polls underestimated the Trump vote. The hidden Trump voter lives. To overcome the hidden Trump voter the Democrat must win (or lead in the polls) the national vote by 3-4 percent. Kamala never had that lead except briefly after she became the nominee. trumpie eating away at that lead until it became vanishingly small. I saw this, I wrote two weeks before the election that Kamala's lead had dropped beneath that line and that the race was "over", that trumpie would win. And then I convinced myself that it wasn't there, that her microscopic leads in the swing state polls were the numbers to see. I saw a "hidden hand" at work, Kamala's superior ground game, that would amplify those microscopic polling leads. It didn't settle with me. Saturday and Sunday I emptied my mind of all but football, tackle and short pants. When I thought about the election I didn't feel my pronouncements that Kamala would win in my gut. By late Monday afternoon my gut told me "trumpie will win", you're seeing things otherwise, and texted a friend and my (second) ex-wife asking them to make a predictions for the next day. "Trump", my friend texted back. "trump" I replied. To his "??" I responded, "trumpie will win". I then drove to get some pizza pie and convinced myself that Josh Shapiro would deliver Pennsylvania for Kamala (?). I texted my friend, "i changed my mind: I predict kamala will win."When the second unfortunate texted her prediction, "We will win" I responded, "i agree. kamala will win."
