• khepri@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I think people forget that Harris only had a mere 15 weeks between Biden dropping out and election day to establish herself and try to bootstrap and run some kind of campaign that wasn’t just her wearing Joe’s skin. It’s insane that anyone expected her to win under those conditions and Biden could not have fucked us harder with his arrogance. Add to that the headwinds of her being a woman of color, not especially charismatic, and to the right of her base on many issues, and the outcome was written in stone from the start.

    • bufalo1973@piefed.social
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      1 day ago

      I always find it funny that the US sees 15 weeks as too short for making a campaign when in Europe we have 2 weeks for the European elections campaign.

    • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      If she had had more time, she would have lost even worse. The peak of her popularity was when people knew nothing about her. She just kept getting more unpopular as the election wore on.

      The only scenario that Kamala could have won is if Biden had somehow dropped out just weeks before the election. Her only shot was to get elected before people really got to know her. She’s a deeply unlikable candidate.

    • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      In 2020, she had all the time in the world, and she mismanaged things badly enough that she ended up dropping out before a single vote was cast. What happened in 2024 was purely advantageous to her, she got to skip the primary altogether and only had to keep it together for 15 weeks. Few people in history have ever received such a privileged ramp towards the presidency.

      The primary process is an additional hoop that a candidate has to jump through, they have to appeal to a different segment of the people than in the general, which may leave them having to pivot or backtrack on their positions. They may have to endure bad blood, or harsher criticism from people who had been invested in another candidate. You could say that the lack of the primary cost the Democrats the election but only in the sense that Kamala probably wouldn’t have won a primary and we’d have gotten someone better.

      15 weeks is also plenty of time to get a message out. Other countries do much shorter campaign lengths. And in the current situation where most people are driven by “negative partisanship,” voting against the people they hate more, being relatively unknown (not that a VP is that unknown) can be advantageous.

      The main thing was policy but she was also just an unpopular politician with bad political instincts (campaigning with the Cheney 's lol), and she basically got to fail upwards and bypass any of the checks that would’ve recognized that unpopularity before it was too late.

    • PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      The only reason Biden picked her for vice president was that she was a woman and black because she honestly ain’t a good politician in general. Her performance in 2020 is telling. I remember the CumTown podcast was constantly making jokes about her back then and they were still relevant in 2024.

      • TheFonz@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I never understand comments like these. She was elected senator of California. She was an AG. Her list of accomplishments is available on Wikipedia for free. What does a black woman have to do to prove herself in this day?

        • PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Why else would he pick the least popular person who ran for the Democrat primary for vice president??? He straight up said that is why he picked the Supreme Court justice he picked and you can assume the same for Vice President. If you are going to pick someone for that position, then pick someone people actually like.

          • TheFonz@lemmy.world
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            8 hours ago

            This comment just reeks of vibes. She’s extremely accomplished and intelligent. She wasn’t the most hilarious or charming person, but again, that’s not what I look for in a leader.

            • PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world
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              5 hours ago

              Vibes win elections. It’s a popularity contest and if you don’t match the vibe of your constituency, then you’re going to lose. That’s why Kamala lost.