Commentary

As the Democrats look to the 2028 presidential race, their bench strength is understandably mentioned with somewhat reluctance.   It stands to reason.  They have no bench strength.  Not even a leader.

An awkward response came from former Vice President Kamala Harris during her recent appearance on the “The Late Show,” when Stephen Colbert simply asked her, “Who’s leading the Democrat Party?  There’s generally a leader of the Democrat party.  Who comes to mind?”

“There are a lot of leaders,” she responded. “I think there are a lot – I’m not going through names because then I’m going to leave someone out,” indicating she didn’t want to “put it on the shoulders of any one person.  It’s really on all of our shoulders.  It really is.”

To me, I couldn’t help but think how she should have responded to the original question – “Who’s leading the Democrat Party?”  She could have said, “While I haven’t decided what I will be doing, having held the second highest political office in the party, I am the leader.”

But then, Harris, a lightweight, was never good on her feet.

There’s Humor

Appearing on MSNBC in an episode of Nicole Wallace’s podcast, “The Best People,” actor Jeff Daniels lamented Harris’ loss, saying … wait for it … “she would have governed like President Abraham Lincoln, and she would have made Liz Cheney secretary of state. OMG

Then there’s the host of the “Breakfast Club,” Charlamagne Tha God, who during an appearance on My View With Lara Trump suggested Stephen Colbert and John Daily, of all people, as presidential candidates he could support.

Remember MSNBC “Hardball” anchor Chris Matthews, who described how most people felt when they heard Barack Obama speak?  “My. I felt this thrill going up my leg.  I mean.  I don’t have that too often.”

Commenting on Trump recently, Matthews said, “His strength is still greater than the Democratic strength. Trump has strength. And I think that’s what all voters look for.  They want a president who is a strong figure. And he’s got it. It’s just there. And half the country buys it.”

Some Democrats have taken to the use of four-letter words during interviews, seemingly thinking that will turn on voters, presumably because the president has, on occasion, used a swear word.  Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D- Texas), who has been invited to appear at Democrat gatherings, said, “Donald Trump is a piece of s**t,” during a recent appearance in Phoenix.

Recognizing Trump has a normal ability to speak in terms the average voter understands, some Democrats are attempting to speak like the working class, even changing their normal voice intonation.  Remember Hillary Clinton, who said, “I ain’t no ways tired.?”

Who can forget John Kerry asking, “Can I get me a huntin’ license here?” while on the campaign trail.  And Sen. Elizabeth Warren who set up a webcam in her kitchen and midway through her “conversation” said “I’m gonna get me a beer.”

Warren, an influential progressive voice in the party, was in New York this week to give her endorsement to socialist Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.  Why is this important to Mamdani?  Her party influence.

But she lost in her 2019 campaign for the presidency focusing on economic issues, including proposing a wealth tax on the wealthiest, universal childcare, student debt relief, Medicare for all, and the Green New Deal.

That brought David Fabor, host of CNBC’s host of “Squawk on the Street,” to ask Warren if she was aware of billionaire businessmen and women are talking about leaving the city if Mamdani is elected.  She mockingly responded with, “Oh dear, are you worried that billionaires age going to go hungry?”

“No,” he said, “I’m worried that they’re going to leave and spend their money elsewhere,” commenting that they “can go to Austin, Dallas or Atlanta.

When he asked Warren if she thought “somebody who has absolutely no experience, a 33-year-old socialist, is going to succeed as mayor of New York?” She answered, “Yes, it’s democracy at work.”

Liberal comedian Bill Maher, who has been making a lot of sense lately, said, Republicans will win in 2028 if Mamdani wins, suggesting that Mamdani will help elect J. D. Vance providing him with “a walking commercial” for the Republican Party nationally.

“Constipated. Leaderless. Confused. A cracked-out clown car. Divided.” Is how James Carville, Democrat strategist for Bill Clinton in 1992, opened his guest essay in the New York Times. “These are the words I hear my fellow Democrats using to describe our party of late. The truth is they’re not wrong: The Democrat Party is in shambles.”

Carville went on to say, “The only thing that can save us now is an actual savior, because a new party can be delivered only by a person,” citing Clinton in 1992 and Obama in 2008. “Our new leader won’t arrive until the day after the midterms in 2026,” claiming no new party or candidate has a chance for a breakthrough until that day.

Not here.  Sebastian Hughes, writing in Bulwark, says, “The Democrats Have a Deeper Bench Than You Think,” and here they are:  Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, John Fetterman, and Raphael Warnock, with Wes Moore, Mark Kelly, Tammy Baldwin, and Jared Polis in his “honorable mentions” category.

It’s fitting that I repeat the advice of New York Times columnist David Brooks. In June, I told you what he tells his Democrat friends: “I want to tell them the problem is not the party leaders.  The problem is you.  You think the Democrats can solve their problems with a new message and a new leader.

“That’s not something done by working politicians who are focused on fund-raising and the next election. That’s only accomplished by visionaries and people willing to shift their entire worldview.  That’s up to you, my friends, not Chuck Schumer.”

Finally, this from Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberly A. Strassel’s opinion piece, “Democrats’ ‘Autopsy’ Flop in which she notes that the party is searching in all the wrong places for answers to why it lost in 2024.

“If change is to come to the Democrat Party – and it will – expect it to come in the form of a charismatic outsider who shows a new way, not via a pro forma autopsy by an insular claque that has no real regrets over the course that actually lost them an election.”

May God Continue to Bless the United States of America