As I write this , the former/future President of the United States has not been formally declared the winner – but, that is only moments away. This election cycle reminded me of an expression I learned in the Marine Corps: “Don’t confuse effort with results and results with success.” To be blunt, Kamala Harris put maximum effort out and ran a very successful campaign given the time crunch she was under (less than 100 days). But, she didn’t get the results she needed for victory.
Others will do an autopsy on her campaign and figure out when “great turned into horrible.” While I have purposely avoided cable news outlets for the last 24 hours and will continue to do so for the next 24, I have been following the race on the Associated Press website. There is one thing that stands out in this election to me:
There was no Blue Wave as there had been in 2020 or 2022. The former/future President basically hit the same vote totals that he had in 2020. He didn’t grow his base. Harris, on the other hand, has fallen almost 20 million votes short the numbers Joe Biden produce in that same year. She, in fact, shrank Biden’s base. The reason this is important is because it lend credence to the former/future President’s argument that the 2020 election was “stolen.” Where did those 20 million voters go? They didn’t go to the former/future President and they didn’t return to Harris. Fox News is sure to ask, “Were they ever there in the first place?” I don’t have an answer, but one needs to be found or else the 2020 “stolen election” issue will continue to hang around as a Fox News talking point.
I’m sadden to think that maybe this country will never elect a woman President regardless of how capable she is. There is a huge gender gap and a gender bias in our politics. It is very real and we’re paying the price for it.
