I'm Undecided. But I Know This Much: Harris Isn't Ready To Be President

on Sep 17, 2024

SAN DIEGO -- As someone who expresses his opinion for a living, part of the job description is now and then having to defend what you believe.

That shouldn't be the case, when you think about it. All sorts of people have all kinds of opinions on all manner of topics. Few of them get pushed up against the wall and ordered to defend their views.

But I'll play along. After the debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, I said on social media and interviews on both radio and television that the exchange told me two things: One of these two people should never be president again, and the other isn't ready to be president at all.

Not surprisingly, Harris supporters -- while in agreement with the first half of that statement -- were incensed by the rest of it. Some insisted that she was qualified for the highest office in the land because of the four elected offices she has already held: San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general, U.S. senator and vice president.

As political resumes go, that's not bad. The problem is that Harris didn't distinguish herself in any of those roles. She held those positions. But what did she do with them for the betterment of the American people? The fact that this story never gets told suggests that there is not much to tell.

Worse, Harris has never properly defined herself and told voters what she believes in. She is still avoiding media interviews, for the most part. The exceptions are carefully handpicked opportunities to sit down with friendly interviewers.

In fact, Harris will soon sit down for a conversation with Oprah Winfrey. This would be the same Oprah Winfrey who recently spoke on Harris' behalf at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

And, I would submit, all that helps explain why so many Americans who find Trump completely unacceptable still haven't made up their minds about how they feel about Harris as the alternative. If Trump is an obnoxious exclamation point, then Harris is an ominous question mark.

Since the debate, a lot of media attention has been focused on undecided voters.

It's a cohort that is driving loyalists in both parties crazy. It started with confusion; those who had already made up their minds just couldn't fathom how anyone could -- with just over a month to Election Day -- still be on the fence. That gave way to frustration; in a close election that could come down to the vote counts in a half dozen states, what more did the undecided need to see or hear to make up their minds? And finally, there was resentment; how dare these holdouts gum up the works by refusing to pick a side?

As someone with strong political views, I'm surprised to find myself in the undecided category.

Or maybe not. When President Joe Biden was still in the race, and set to face off against Trump, I was what political observers called a "double hater." I wasn't alone. At the time, polls showed that about two-thirds of Americans didn't want the rematch.

But now that Biden has bowed out, and Harris has become the Democratic nominee, I'm still not thrilled with my choices. I have nothing against Harris. Nor is there anything that inspires me to vote for her -- besides an obvious desire not to see Trump reelected.

Again, I'm not alone. According to polling by the New York Times and Siena College, before the matchup, as much as 18% of the electorate hadn't made up their minds about who to support. Since the debate, that figure has fallen to 10%.

The thinking in some media circles is that Harris may have won the debate but lost the battle to define herself.

A recent ABC News/IPSOS poll found that 63% of Americans thought Harris won the debate while only 36% thought Trump won.

What a twist. The same Democrats who spent most of the last year insisting that polls don't matter are now directing everyone's attention to the numbers about debate performance.

Now, it's time for me to defend my position. Harris isn't ready to be president because the ability to communicate is central to the job. The Democratic nominee doesn't communicate well, hasn't told her story effectively and won't confront the media to answer questions that she might find difficult or embarrassing.

Harris can still fix this. But the hour is late, and people's impressions of her are hardening.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.