November 2, 2024
Here is Jamie Raskin commenting on the state of the presidential race with Brian Tyler Cohen last year around Thanksgiving week. Though Raskin is talking about Biden’s record and appeal as a candidate, his comments apply, in my view, to Kamala Harris. Once she became the candidate, Harris has had to distance herself from Biden, and she has done so gingerly. I don’t think this approach is a mistake, but the result is she gets less mileage out of the incredible accomplishments of the Biden-Harris record in producing an economy that is the envy of the world, with record achievements overall that far out-shadow any achievements of Trump’s administration. I appreciate Raskin’s calm. I appreciate his insight into our “big majority.” In these last days of the campaign, let us take heart that the democratic agenda, writ large and entrusted in capable hands (including Kamala Harris’s), has so much to recommend it.
Tuesday’s election will be a turnout election. We do have a big majority, but Trump’s side, I’ve learned recently, is motivated by a moral fervor that will produce turnout. Until Raskin’s insights and calm take deeper root, we need to sweat out the dynamics he comments on at the beginning of this clip.
