If this is a “vibes” election, then Kamala Harris seemed to win on Tuesday night. That’s especially true if you’re a glass-half-full Democrat who ultimately cares most about defeating Donald Trump. The Republican nominee had a rough night, and Harris had a good one. But the fact that the vice president can successfully prosecute the case against Trump helps conceal the reality that she has retreated from the Biden administration’s post-neoliberal economic vision and is offering America very little in terms of significant public policy.
Let’s first acknowledge that the bar for debate success was set extraordinarily low. In one sense, all Harris had to do in her first televised back-and-forth with Trump was steady the ship. In June, Biden was so frail at critical moments that he appeared on the verge of slumping over and evaporating into dust. The president’s ghastly performance single-handedly turned his re-election campaign into the Ides of March, with top Democrats everywhere—from Nancy Pelosi to George Clooney—all suddenly wielding blood-stained knives.