Classic Coke 

Older readers may remember the "New Coke" debacle in 1985, in which Coca-Cola tried to reformulate Coke in response to lagging sales, found the revised product flopped badly, and returned to the original formulation, calling it "Classic Coke." Likewise, Kamala Harris has now been repackaged and is being marketed as the electoral "Classic Coke."

In 2020, Harris put up a wetted finger into the political winds, and marketed herself as a fiery progressive, raising bail money for jailed rioters and endorsing the defunding of the police, positions which have since proven unpopular, leaving her with less than 5 percent of the Democratic vote. Now in 2024, the Democrat bosses and media have repackaged her as a moderate, trying to get voters to forget why they previously rejected her.

Harris then named Minnesota's Tim Walz as her running mate, and "reformulated" the progressive into "Coach Walz," a regular guy. Surprisingly for a party which embraces DEI, she followed tradition and chose yet another older, white, heterosexual, cisgendered man. Walz's appointment tells us a lot about where a Harris administration would head.

Republicans are unlikely to encounter many surprises out of Trump, as he continues to vent his unfiltered stream of consciousness, and to bask in the rock star-like adulation of his fans. We already know what to expect. Unless he manages to let something really appalling bubble out, it will just be the usual undisciplined, self-indulgent bluster. And my cat, an ardent, angry Democrat ever since we had him fixed, pronounces himself deeply offended by J.D. Vance's "cat lady" remark.

While progressive Harris could have used her VP selection to reassure nervous moderates, she instead chose another progressive. On immigration, Walz supported "sanctuary" policies and providing illegals with subsidized medical insurance and free tuition at state colleges. He jumped into the war on gender by supporting gender-affirming care for minors and, bizarrely, by requiring schools to provide menstrual products in all bathrooms used by menstruating students.

Embarrassed by the moniker "Tampon Tim," Democrats claim that the Minnesota law doesn't require schools to put those products in boys' bathrooms, but a reading of the law clearly reveals that in fact, all restrooms used by menstruating students includes trans boys using the boys' bathroom. This was deliberate.

Harris could have chosen popular Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a moderate who might have delivered Pennsylvania, a swing state that would help her more than Walz's reliably Democratic Minnesota, but her pro-Palestinian progressive pals loudly vetoed him. This may disturb Jewish Democrats who were already shocked by the virulence of antisemitic sentiments among progressives at Gaza demonstrations and worry about the progressive orientation of a Harris administration.

Harris faces more scrutiny. For example, while supporters dismiss as a mere "personal matter" her dating relationship with 60-year-old Assembly Speaker Willie Brown when she was 29, his 1994 appointment of her to lucrative part-time government positions is harder to ignore. The California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board paid her $97,088 per year, while the California Medical Assistance Board paid her $72,000 per year. That was in addition to her salary as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County. I am curious how she will try to explain this away, or will friendly media just ignore it?

The progressive positions she staked out during her 2020 presidential bid will come back to haunt her once voters settle down and take a sober look at her. Supporting the defunding of the police, and soliciting bail money for rioters, won't help her with voters who are worried about crime and who question the Democrat's commitment to public safety, nor will her ineffective tenure as the "immigration czar" help with voters who have watched illegals flood over the open border and besiege even our blue Northern cities. As a member of the Biden administration, she will have a hard time distancing herself from the inflation, high gas prices, high interest rates, and profligate spending of the last four years.

So far, Harris has ducked anything more challenging than scripted Democratic rallies before devoted fans, but how long can she hide from tougher encounters? Are the Democrats trying to reprise their 2020 tactic used with Joe Biden and keep her hidden in the basement with handlers to filter out the more embarrassing stuff that she says? She's a notoriously nasty boss—will we see former staffers spilling the goods on her?

Democrats have been euphoric since she ascended to the nomination, but will it last? She now leads Trump in some polls, but how solid of a lead is it? Will it survive the next two months of scrutiny? After all, there was a reason why she did so poorly in 2020. Her momentary "surge" may just be Democrats putting a brave face on the inevitable, or like the muted joy when the captain ordered an open bar on the sinking Titanic.

Will voters "buy" the "new and improved!" Classic Coke Kamala? Δ

John Donegan is a retired attorney and political junkie in Pismo Beach who finds no joy in this dismal race. Send comments through the editor or write an opinion piece of your own and email it to [email protected].