Harris Runs Against Herself. Will It Work?

An old trick from the Obama 2012 campaign is back: running against your own record. It worked in 2012. Will it work in 2024?

I don’t know who initially said this, but it rings true: “Never underestimate the intelligence of the American people, and never overestimate their political knowledge.”

This brings me to the Limbaugh Theorem, named after the legendary late radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who built the industry and died in early 2021 at 70. My friend Chris Stigall, a radio talk show host and podcaster from Kansas City who also broadcasts on Philadelphia’s AM560, reminded me of the Limbaugh Theory again this week in one of his podcasts. Stigall comes closest to resembling the late Limbaugh more than any radio talker I know. He’s emerging as an heir to the throne.

“Rush built the mall, and we just live in it,” friend and radio talker Hugh Hewitt has said. Talk radio, as created by Limbaugh, has evolved into long-form interviews and “on-demand” podcasts. Talk radio, especially on AM Radio, isn’t thriving like it used to, but its infection lives on both here on Substack and elsewhere.

Despite negative issue poll numbers, Obama was reelected anyway. Graphic from Rush Limbaugh show archives.

Limbaugh’s theorem was born in response to Obama’s February 2013 State of the Union Address. Fresh off a reelection campaign against now-US Senator Mitt Romney that some were surprised he won, Limbaugh made this observation:

For five years, Obama has never once allowed himself to be seen as governing.

He is constantly campaigning against mysterious forces who have ill intentions trying to harm you and this great country. There are these figures behind the screen, behind the curtain. Romney was one. Bush was one. There are others. Obama’s trying to expose them. Throughout history dictators, for example, have never really been blamed for the bad things that happened in their countries. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro, none of them were blamed by the rank-and-file citizenry. . .

He’s always going to be running against the very things he’s doing.

Fast-forward to 2024. Rumors fly fast and furiously that the former President worked behind the scenes to influence the Biden agenda and replace him with Kamala Harris.

Limbaugh gave a thumbs-up after being awarded the Medal of Freedom during a Trump State of the Union Address, as then-First Lady Melania Trump looked on. He died about a year after this.

Mission accomplished, part one. David Plouffe, one of Obama’s 2012 masterminds and a highly respected political strategist, has joined Harris's nascent campaign. As the new Harris campaign retools and works on its candidate, it quickly adopts tried-and-true strategies implemented and mastered by Obama during his presidency.

Including “running against the very things he’s doing,” as Limbaugh said.

If you need proof, look at her copying Trump’s two-month-old promise to eliminate income taxes on tips—pure plagiarism. But remember, Democrats almost always win bidding wars, especially when bribing people with their own money.

Her “Day One” plan now calls for addressing the border (says the border czar of 3-plus years and running. Talk about an open invitation for massive migrant caravans to the southern border. Mexican cartels and fentanyl manufacturers must be salivating.

And today, Friday, August 16th, she will unveil her “economic plan” to end “price gouging” by grocers - who sport an average 1.5% profit margin - and give $25,000 of your tax money in down payments for first-time homebuyers with extra bennies for “first-generation” Americans. I kid you not. We’ll get confirmation today.

That will help send new and larger migrant caravans in droves to America, especially if Harris wins.

And then there’s inflation. On average, prices for everything have increased by over 20 percent over the past 42 months, the highest inflation in 40 years. Harris will reportedly unveil her plan for that today as well, which is unlikely to mention $6 trillion in new spending over three years that flooded the economy with a 40 percent increase in the money supply, with no corresponding increase in productivity.

Let me remind you of the textbook definition of inflation: too many dollars chasing too few goods.

Harris has unburdened herself from what has been the past three years and is focused on what can be. She is systemically rewriting history, aka Stalin, to reflect who she wants to be in your mind for the 2024 election.

She’s now running against the agenda she campaigned for and has promoted and defended since “Day One.”

Of course, the question is, will her gambit work? Can she run against the very agenda she extolled until weeks ago? Can she now win votes for going after food makers, grocers, and maybe farmers for the higher prices of abundant foods in ever-present, ever-available retail stores, from 7-Elevens to my neighborhood Kroger, Acme, Shop Rite, Safeway, Walmart, Whole Foods, Fresh Market, Grand Union, and Giant stores?

Did someone mention something about competition?

While Americans are largely ignorant about politics and politicians, most aren’t stupid, especially when it comes to shopping for food and gas, the costs of which they pay very careful attention to. They’ve seen the cost of flavored store-brand potato chips at the local Harris Teeter go from $1 per bag a year ago to $2.50 today. Branded chips cost more.

Americans are used to fluctuations in the cost of commodities from coffee to dairy. They understand basic supply and demand. but when EVERYTHING goes up? They begin to ask questions.

They’ve also noted that the cost of gasoline is nearly double what it was four years ago. They realize that someone has to deliver food to food makers and from them to stores. Where does fertilizer come from, and how is it made?

The price of energy drives the cost of EVERYTHING, from gas to fertilizer to toothbrushes. The cost of energy touches everything. Literally.

Oh, sure, there are stupid people, often referred to as NPCs (non-player characters), who buy whatever propagandists at MSNBC and other media tell them. NPC stands for "Non-Player Character" and is used as a metaphor to describe someone perceived as lacking independent thought or blindly following trends. I bet you know a few who qualify. Individuality is “promoted” but discouraged and punished by the collective that Harris praises. Your “individuality” is limited to your sexual preference, choice of gender and pronouns, and hair color.

Politically, if you are not voting Democratic, “you ain’t black,” as Joe Biden famously instructed Charlamagne tha God in 2020. In fairness, there are cultists in the Trump universe, but conservatives view individual freedom differently. Being weird is okay. Being weird in the Democratic universe seems limited to new pronouns.

And there are more of them than you think. They’re more interested in being accepted than thinking for themselves. Being a part of the collective is more important than independent thought and individuality. The fear of being “rejected” by The Plastics is a real thing for many.

But can Kamala Harris and her lefty, gundecking running mate run away from records they are largely responsible for, just the way Obama appeared to have done a decade ago?

We’re about to find out.

Today, Kamala is taking aim at my former industry, food makers and grocers, especially the later. They appear poised to propose “executive action” to end “price gouging” and “excessive profits.” Never mind that grocers, on average, experience profit margins of 1-2% while food makes on average do a little better around 6 percent.

Given their profit margins, I’m sure big tech enjoys a big laugh. But they should be careful. They might be next.

I wrote six months ago when Senator Bob Casey and President Biden whined about “shrinkflation” and “greedflation” in the food industry. It struck me as weird, given how many of the very companies targeted by these two numbskulls had operations and employed hundreds if not thousands of people in the very politically important state of Pennsylvania.

Feel free to educate yourself in advance of Kamala’s attack.

If you’re wondering what the effect of her policies might look like, here you go.

Enjoy your Spam and Vienna Sausages. Not that there’s anything wrong with them.

If food companies are smart and courageous, they’ll challenge Harris’s attack on them. But then again, food companies recoil from controversy, and they’re brimming with progressive leftists. They’ll be the first to run to Harris on their collective knees and beg to work with her on her plans.

Harris is now running against the Biden-Harris record. Her “Day One” wasn’t January 21, 2021, but when she is sworn in (if elected). And her record is being scrubbed to show how she’s “grown” in office over the past four years.

Bans on fracking? Gone until Day One. Eliminating immigrant detention centers? Not today. Medicare for all, Bernie style? No more. For now.

The question for Americans will be, do you believe her, or your lying eyes?