In August 2024, just weeks after Vice President Kamala Harris announced her campaign for President, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice published a 6,000-word essay, The Perils of Isolationism in
magazine.Rice’s argument was sober and nuanced: today’s geopolitical tensions are not a replay of the Cold War but a different, riskier era. She warned that Russia’s aggression and China’s integration into the world economy demand stronger U.S. leadership to deter authoritarian power. It was a lucid, adult-level analysis of a world on edge.
At the same moment, Team Harris was pushing a very different message: “Kamala IS brat.”
The profound contrast between these respective political brands kept racing through my mind last week as I read Harris’ latest book, 107 Days and its repeated insinuation that America isn’t ready for a black female President. This simply isn’t true.
Brat vs. Gravitas
In case you’ve forgotten or just never understood, the “brat” endorsement came from pop star Charli XCX who tweeted the three-word declaration after Joe Biden finally stepped aside. The Harris campaign ran with it, redesigning their social media accounts with the lime-green aesthetic of Charli’s hit Brat album cover.
Acknowledging the importance of a candidate connecting with young people through pop culture, one should nevertheless consider how Charli described the brat ethos: “that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes…who feels like herself but maybe also has a breakdown.”
Compare this “messy party girl” energy to the gravitas of Condoleezza Rice—a classically trained musician, fluent in Russian, with a PhD in political science and experience as both National Security Advisor and Cabinet Secretary. One exudes discipline and expertise, while the other summarizes her political philosophy with memes about coconut trees.
As if we didn’t know already, Harris’s new release provides yet further evidence that she is no Condi Rice.
107 Days: Excuses on Repeat
107 Days is a non-stop litany of excuses and grievances explaining why the author lost to Donald Trump. Even reviewers from left-leaning New York Times and The Guardian slammed it for its petty attacks on fellow Democrats and the bizarre lamentation that her husband under-celebrated her birthday. It reads less like a presidential memoir and more like a sorority slam book.
On the positive side, 107 Days reminded me of Harris’ meaningful political accomplishments: she won two elections for San Francisco District Attorney, leading to multiple terms as California’s Attorney General, and eventually a Senate seat representing the fourth largest economy on the planet. These are legitimate achievements.
But both of her national campaigns followed the same arc: big splashy launches followed by a downward slide. Contrary to the implicit message of “107 Days” (if only we had more time!), the longer America had to get to know candidate Harris, the less we believed in her.
It wasn’t racial animus that earned her only 5% black approval in the 2020 Democratic primary. Nor did gender discrimination cause her to fumble softball questions from CNN’s Dana Bash and the friendly co-hosts on The View. These uninspired performances eroded her credibility, entirely apart from her demographics.
Yes, women are often judged unfairly on their appearance, and perhaps Harris suffers disproportionately for her goofy laugh. But the Presidential campaign spotlight forgives few gaffes. Ask Howard Dean what happens when you let out a celebratory yawp after a primary. Ask Mitt Romney how it feels to be labeled sexist for the phrase “binders full of women.” Ask Gary Hart if…well, never mind.
The Wrong Lessons
107 Days also demonstrates that Harris still doesn’t grasp why she lost. She calls illegal immigration “irregular migration,” blames Biden-induced inflation on corporate “price gouging,” and devotes pages arguing that Trump’s focus on trans issues was unfair. Whether out of delusion or dishonesty, she just doesn’t get it.
Most shockingly, Harris straight-up admits she didn’t choose Pete Buttigieg as her running mate — despite believing him the most qualified — because he is gay. And she passed on Josh Shapiro because he was too ambitious. Strong leaders show courage and aren’t threatened by strong deputies, but she admittedly went with a non-controversial running mate who wouldn’t outshine her. Tim Walz seems like the world’s greatest next-door neighbor, but let’s be honest - he added zero strength to the ticket.
Get Serious
Of course, racism and misogyny still exist. But our supposedly irredeemable country elected Barack Obama twice because his intelligence, charisma, and vision transcended the color of his skin. Even if you disagreed with him, you still thought “damn, this guy’s good.”
We never got that from Kamala. She came across as an unserious candidate and now arrives as an embittered author.
Yes, black women face challenges that white men don’t face, including the fact that they compose a mere 7% of the electorate. But lumping them all together into a powerless political class is disingenuous, inaccurate, and dangerous.
Maybe Condoleezza Rice couldn’t win a Presidential election either. But she would at least give voters the sense that the grown-ups are back in charge. If Democrats want to retake the White House, they need to nominate someone who projects courage, competence, and confidence.
Perhaps it’s time to nominate Pete Buttigieg. Or anyone who isn’t brat.
THE END (but keep reading)
Real quick - two things:
I’ll be headlining Denver Comedy Lounge October 17 - 18. Tell your Denver friends to get tickets here.
You should listen to my interview with Craigslist founder, Craig Newmark.
Craig was never motivated by money. Which makes it super ironic that his current “job” is giving away the 100s of millions of dollars he made by helping his fellow humans go about living their lives.
Back in the ‘90s in San Francisco, Craig started an email list to alert friends of upcoming events. The list got so big that he moved it to the web and added other categories like jobs and apartments. It kept growing!
As the money and offers from investment banks and venture capitalists poured in, Craig reflected on his Sunday school values and asked himself “how much is enough?” So they kept the site simple, easy to navigate, and free of big graphic ads. Perhaps because of this decision, Craigslist now serves 700 cities in 70 countries around the world.
It was a true pleasure to sit down with this very unique entrepreneur and citizen philanthropist to learn more about the values that have guided him on his journey.
And yes, I asked him if Craiglist is responsible for the demise of newspapers. You must listen to hear his answer!
**Check it out now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts**
Enjoyed, thank you!
"It wasn't racial animus that earned her only 5% black approval in the 2020 Democratic primary" is exactly right. Black voters rejected her because of specific choices she made—fighting to keep people in prison, her office's mishandling of wrongful convictions, truancy prosecutions that punished poor Black families, and a broader record that reform advocates saw as harmful.
When you build a career making decisions that materially hurt Black communities, then lose and say "America wasn't ready for a Black woman," it's delusional.
The 2020 primary already told the story. Black Democratic voters, highly engaged and informed, looked at her record and said "no thanks." That wasn't racism- it was an informed electorate.
So when she lost again in 2024, the real question isn't "was America ready for a Black woman?" It's "why would Black voters rally behind someone whose record worked against them?"
Obama built trust. Harris built a prosecution record.
And here's the killer: For all Trump's flaws—and they are scores—he signed the First Step Act in 2018, delivering actual criminal justice reform that reduced mandatory minimums and expanded early release programs.
The "law and order" candidate who called for the death penalty for the Central Park Five did more for criminal justice reform, and thus largely the black community, than the Black woman prosecutor.
When Trump can credibly claim he helped reduce mass incarceration while Harris spent her career enabling it, her "America wasn't ready" excuse is a clear confession that she still doesn't understand why she lost.