Where is Kamala?

She's not even going to win the Democratic party nomination in 2028 not to talk of win the presidency.

She would have never got the nomination this time if she ran, she only got it because Biden dropped down mid race and they had to scramble to replace him. Obama was reluctant to give her his support for a reason and took about a week before he finally did. There was the conversation that was overheard between Biden and Obama a few weeks ago discussing how she wasn't popular enough.

She performed worse than Biden and Clinton which is saying something, so bad she lost ground in solid blue states like NY and Illinois, yeah she won but lower votes and Trump secured more votes than expected in those states that have been historically blue.

Yeah don't expect her for 2028.

Yes, I wonder why Kamala, a black woman, would be held to a higher standard than those who went before her?

Frankly the whole darned thing looks strange to me, EasternStandard, and the fact they hung on to Biden despite his obvious frailty is just one more aspect

If they'd had the sense to act decisively much earlier we probably wouldn't all be having this conversation, but they didn't and here we are

It did make her look very weak that she couldn't speak to her supporters last night, I agree. She didn't have to concede then, but she could at least have spoken to them and thanked them for their support. That's what a real leader would do, in my opinion.

In practical terms she has a terrible speaking voice. It is weak and high pitched and faint so doesn't convince anyone she is capable of boiling a kettle.

She had, in her favour, an education, experience and the backing of the Obama's. Should have been plenty for a discerning audience.

They were not a discerning audience unfortunately.

They did indeed, MillyMichaelson, but put it this way ... if the incoming results had been going Kamala's way does anyone suppose she'd just have scuttled off and left someone else to suggest the faithful go home?

As PPs have said this is about grace under fire and leadership skills, and to many she'll just be confirming that they did right to reject her

But that’s a completely different system and norm. It also only happens after someone has actually won the election. In 2010 Gordon Brown’s speech was 5 days after the election and that was completely normal in those circumstances, as coalition talks had to be completed before anyone had a majority.

I never thought she would win
But I did think she was the least worse option.

I don't like either of 2 but to be fair, Kamala was thrown into the deep end with very little time to have a proper campaign, with her party (namely Obamas) giving interviews telling she is the least suitable candidate abd then switching to "she is the best" overnight.

Then having to turn around completely in a matter of 16 weeks and likely having been convinced she would win. It's not easy, esp with such a short preparation.

But Dems deserve what they got, this loss is of their own making.

People just like to rage without having the smallest fucking clue about...well, anything.

Facts just get in the way of the pointless ire.

She’s licking her wounds.

The Democrats would have walked the election if they’d fielded a half decent candidate.

They didn’t.

She is poor at deeper discussion, debates and interviews. She did not go through the full process and primaries like other candidates did. She failed to engage with voters who mattered in swing states.

Add that on to the last three and a half years which have been poor for the Democrats and the party themselves making some very questionable decisions (ie picking Biden for a second term in the first place), it was clear for weeks she was going to lose.

I’m shocked so many people thought she was going to win, and not only that, by and landslide.

Regardless of that, she should have came out to address those who were waiting for hours to hear from her last night. I think that was really poor behaviour. We all as humans understand that losing is hurtful, but you need to be made of stronger stuff if you want to be a leader of one of the largest countries in the world.

@Puzzledandpissedoff they had a thank you party a few nights ago.

She isn’t following Trump’s example. Candidates only ever concede on election night when the election is “called” on election night. E.g. 2008. It’s completely normal when the election isn’t called until the Wednesday for concessions to happen then. This is perfectly normal for a US presidential election.

You're very welcome, sparkellie, and there's nothing to apologise for because you didn't already know

In practice Trump and anyone he chooses to form his team have no actual power until January, but as explained in iamtheblcksheep's excellent link there'll be a lot going on behind the scenes during the handover

So although Biden and Harris are still President/VP until then I very much doubt there'll be any more initiatives from them or even much real work being done by either

Thing is though when a sitting prime minister loses an election in this country they have to do a speech pretty quickly outside of their home, often with kids in tow and start the process of transition within hours. Yes it’s different systems but the expected approach is to say something magnanimous and congratulate the opponent even if it stings like hell.

Now the problem is Trump basically got away with insurrection last time. He seems to be held to totally different standards to everyone else. That must sting as well but she can’t do anything about that so she needs to stick to the norms that everyone else is expected to.

They advised the supporters last night she would be addressing the nation today. And I expect she will. I’m sure she will be much more gracious in defeat than her opponent who acted like a toddler when he lost last time

How bitter and unpleasant you sound.

Her reaction is a thousand, a million times better than Trump's behaviour from Nov 2020 through to Jan 2021. Or did you forget that he and his supporters attempted to stage a coup?

So technically given Bidens presumed state of health, should anything happen to him between now and January, KH would become president?
Albeit for a very short time?

Sure but I suppose I mean that that should have also been declared to the public.

@Laptoppie I'm sure she will, but what really can she say in this situation. There's no hope to be offered to her supporters. They know that. The fact she's been silent up to now says it all about what an absolute shit show this is, I find it quite ironic that all the Trump supporters are expecting her to behave 'normally' in this situation and criticising her for not doing so when we know Trump would never ever have conceded if he'd lost.

There needs to be a system in place for cases like this.

Even in his condition, I don't think Kamala ought be able to just assume this power of his. The US elected Biden, not Harris.

By cases like this, I assume you mean an incapacitated president? That is exactly what the vice president is for.
The 25th amendment allows a president to temporarily transfer their duties to the vice president (this is done for example if the president is undergoing surgery - Biden has done this in the past, I think Bush did as well).
But it also allows the vice president and majority of the cabinet to declare the president unfit, and the vice president takes over.
And they elected Biden & Harris, knowing she would take over if anything happened to him. That's how it works.

You can obviously argue whether you think he should have been declared unfit already. But either way, it goes to her.

Thank you for the link, very informative.

How do you mean the Republican hypocrisy is rife ?

‘Set the precedent’?!?! No one has to follow Trump’ s example, there are other ways to behave.

This

It's a bit of a strange scenario as Biden isn't really together either