Harris loss ‘wasn’t just about Biden’, says former Obama advisor

Matt Frei: It has to be said, does it not, that if [Biden] hadn’t outstayed his welcome there in terms of the campaign, you might now have a Democrat moving in?
Peter Loge: Maybe and maybe not. If it were only Harris who had lost, I’d buy that argument more. Democrats lost across the board. The American people feel frustrated. Inflation remains high. They’re concerned about the southern border. I don’t think this was just about Biden.
Matt Frei: But is there a problem the Democrats especially have with deference? There was a lot of deference towards this gracious old man, when someone should have just told him ‘it’s over, Joe.’
Peter Loge: I think a lot of people were telling him that, but when somebody tells you something, doesn’t mean that you listen.
Matt Frei: You think they were telling him, though?
Peter Loge: I think it was pretty clear, certainly in the press, in op eds, and by the time it reaches op eds in the press, somebody has had the quiet conversation with him. But again, it wasn’t just Harris and Biden who lost. It was Democrats across the board.
Matt Frei: Okay, so to that point, there seems to be such a kind of fundamental shift in so many different areas towards the right. What does that tell you about the state of America today?
Peter Loge: I think it tells you a lot, actually, about the state of the world. Incumbents across the globe have lost in this last election cycle. I think a lot of people in the US and around the world feel like the global economy has left them out, left them behind. It isn’t what they were promised and they’re frustrated.
Matt Frei: But why have Democrats not been able to address that issue when we’ve known about that issue ever since the financial crisis? They’ve been in power for quite a few years, ever since then.
Peter Loge: Well, Trump was in power from ‘16 to ‘20 and things went badly. And the American people said, ‘okay, we gave you a shot, now we’re going to try the other guy’. Biden and Harris came in, Democrats came in. They actually materially made it better but didn’t make the case. And a lot of people in the US said it’s not getting better fast enough.
Matt Frei: There are things that Trump did in his first administration that many Democrats decried but then adopted in the Biden administration, like tariffs against China, for instance, trying to be a little bit tighter on immigration, but failing. Do you think there’ll be lots of policies that will be adopted, that the Trump administration will adopt, where the Democrats have to say, ‘we agree with you, but we don’t necessarily agree with your tone?’
Peter Loge: I think there’s gonna be a lot of agreement and a lot of disagreement on tone. Trump’s going to benefit from a rebounding Biden economy. Maybe we’ll actually get immigration reform this time. We’ll see.
Matt Frei: It was Obama who I think deported more people, but quietly than even President Trump did. Is that correct?
Peter Loge: There were a lot of, many, many more deportations under Obama than I think a lot of people recognise. He was also in office for eight years and Trump was in four four. And actually, border crossings have been steadily going down, even under Biden. But it’s the appearance of chaos that makes people concerned.
Matt Frei: But the fact that Obama deported all these people, I covered the story when I was living it at the time. At one stage it was a thousand a day, but sort of got away with it. Is that because he was much savvier about doing it? Or do you think the Republicans are right when they try and make a show of it, to frighten people into not coming into this country?
Peter Loge: I think there’s a lot of frightening in the US to make voters turn out and vote against Democrats, right? It was appearances of chaos. The border has been a mess for a long time. There’ve been bipartisan efforts to fix the border for a long time. They’ve all failed.
Matt Frei: And if you were still advising Democrats today, maybe you are, what would you be telling them to get their house in order?
Peter Loge: Take the concerns of Americans seriously. Don’t just say I understand, but say I share your anger. Gas costs a lot. Groceries cost a lot. Inflation’s coming down. Gas costs less. The US is doing better than most of the rest of the world, but still really hard.
Matt Frei: And didn’t they say that? I kind of I think I heard them say that on quite a few occasions, but maybe people weren’t listening. Or, why didn’t it ring true?
Peter Loge: I think they were saying it a way, saying ‘I understand’ rather than share the anger. And a lot of it was the American people just didn’t believe they meant it.