November, 2024
Dear CNN:
I greatly admire David Axelrod. I appreciate his calm assessments and his ability to present a partisan point of view in a civil manner. But the day or two after November 5 I found myself frustrated with him. I understand he is a political strategist, that it is his job to look at the components of the presidential loss in order to determine what should be done differently next time. But I was disappointed not to see a stronger acknowledgement of the real reason the Democrats lost the presidency:
Kamala Harris is a woman.
Two things up front: No, not everyone who voted for the former president is sexist. I understand there are other issues, and I’m a proponent of a strong two-party system with differing points of view. This letter is not about name-calling. It’s about questioning how the election is being assessed by the media. I’m picking on David Axelrod because he’s the one I’ve seen most often over the past few days and, as I’ve said, whom I admire greatly. However, the lack of attention to the importance of the role of gender goes beyond him and beyond CNN.
Political pundits are treating Harris’ loss the way they would have if she were a man running against the likes of George Bush or Mitt Romney. We’re told she didn’t reach out enough to [fill in your choice of demographic]. She focused too much on things like the threat to democracy rather than the price of eggs. She didn’t distance herself enough from Joe Biden. And my favorite: Democrats, many with advanced degrees and who make $200,000 a year, don’t understand the lives of those who are struggling They act like missionaries, looking down upon blue-collar workers, trying to save them.
Really?
Okay, I’ll give you the advanced degree. I have one. I’m also a never-married (sorry, no cats) 72-year-old woman who has struggled as a mass-communications professional to make an income, an income that has, in the end, allowed me to create a safe home and fulfilling life. But it wasn’t easy. I’ve never made $200,000 a year. And I didn’t know I was an uncaring elitist when I was laid off from my corporate public-affairs position and told by the placement manager that everyone in the room would be able to find a comparable job except for me. (Sadly, he was right.) Or when I found myself sitting on my bedroom floor sobbing because the client I had been depending on to pay the mortgage that month had decided it didn’t need a freelance writer anymore.
But back to the Democrats’ so-called strategic failures. Was that really enough to tip the scales? For the citizenry of the United States of America to reject the candidate who is intelligent, experienced, professional, skilled, articulate? Who treats others with respect? Who understands the role of the United States in the world? To choose instead the candidate who prevented the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in our history? (Yes, the power transferred, but the process was not peaceful.) To prefer a convicted sexual predator, who as a matter of course belittles anyone who doesn’t bow to him? Are we really proud to call as our next president someone who needed the job to avoid going to jail?
I voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 primary because I knew he was highly experienced. But I also knew that with another four years of Donald Trump on the table, the stakes were too high to risk running a woman. In 2024, with the talk of asking Joe Biden to step aside, I worried about the alternative and kept quoting John Lennon—“We’d all love to see the plan.” But then, Kamala Harris became the nominee, and the enthusiasm was electric. I thought, okay, we’re ready.
I was a fool.
From FDR’s refusal to be photographed getting into his wheelchair to JFK’s acknowledged affairs, men don’t have to be perfect. But Hillary Clinton, probably the most highly qualified person to ever run for president, was considered to be a bit too pushy. Barack Obama is black and faces racism, but he is a man. We gave him two terms. Kamala Harris is being told she didn’t massage egos or hold peoples’ hands, and so she didn’t earn the presidency.
What’s the variable?
By all mean, democratic strategists, do your job. Look at the map. Get into the minutia. Figure out which groups to approach differently next time.
But, please, dispense with the “if onlys.” The variable that tipped the scales is that the American citizenry can’t picture a woman in the Oval Office. Let us know when you have a strategic solution to that.
We’d all love to see the plan.
Sincerely,
Elaine L. Ricci
Cc.
Vice President Kamala Harris
MSNBC
Jon Stewart
My blog: https://bumpsscrapesandkisses.blog/
Anyone else who will listen
© Elaine L. Ricci 2024. This document may be reproduced in whole or in part provided it is credited to Elaine L. Ricci.
Bumps, Scrapes and Kisses 
Thank you Elaine. I wondered why the media has not included that because I too think it was the major reason she did not win. That and the plethora of wives who voted as their spouses because they didn’t value or were too lazy to consider voting on their own.
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Elaine Ricci’s letter states clearly and beautifully exactly what happened in this deeply disappointing election. The blame Democrats have been owning with such vigor since Nov. 5 rarely mentions the real issue — Harris is a woman.
The media are way off base with all their conjecture. It’s shocking since 2024 is not the first time an exceedingly competent woman lost her bid for presidency. But it’s different this time. Hillary was openly vilified. Kamala suffered a silent rejection. I did hear one woman say, just before the election, “She’s just not that articulate.” Here we go again.
Kamala went down, despite a fine effort, in a cold, dark shunning.
Think about it: Missouri voted to pass Amendment 3 to provide and protect abortion rights but in a stunning twist, voted to install a Republican governor and a felon president. Anything but a woman.
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Hi Elaine,
This letter to CNN was powerful, beautifully written and so important. I want it to have a wide audience. I am baffled as to why so few have brought this forward as the KEY reason for the loss.
Congratulations to you, Elaine. A brilliant job.
Rae
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