Disclaimer: This book review of 107 Days by Kamala Harris contains spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.
Didn’t we almost have it all?
Whitney Houston sang this refrain in her 1987 hit song of the same name. It’s about a love that was so good but not quite good enough to last. She sings as she recalls the nights they held one another until the morning. Maybe he’d lost the loving feeling. Or maybe she did. But any event, she longed for the time when everything was joyous and good and wonderful.
During the wee hours of the night on November 8th and 9th, I felt this same way–many of us did. We were so close, yet so far from turning the tide around. We were almost there. We almost had it all.
We almost had Kamala.
From the first day I saw Kamala Harris announce she was releasing her new book, I was raring to get my hands on it. I’d mourned her loss and gone through the grieving process. I was ready to hear from HER what it was like to go through the extreme highs and the extreme lows of her illustrious campaign. 107 Days was an apt title, and I hoped that she would give us the raw and unfiltered version.
That she did.
I took my time reading the book, allowing my emotions to sometimes intercede on my behalf. From the moment the book started, she took us through the diary of events. From the day she received “the call” that Joe Biden was stepping down to her concession speech at Howard University at the end of her campaign, she brought us along on her journey.
Here’s my unfiltered book review of 107 Days by Kamala Harris.
Grand opening
It opens with a quote from Kendrick Lamar opus ‘DNA”. So you already know that Kamala isn’t going for light and fluffy. She’s preparing us for the trenches.
Doug was the last to know
As 107 Days is written in diary style, the first entry/chapter begins with her receiving the call that President Joe Biden would be stepping out of the race, and she would be thrust into first place. She’s at home making breakfast for her grand-nieces and had to step away to take the call.
Kamala’s next call is to Doug, but he isn’t answering. She then reaches out for help from family and friends, who all try getting Doug on the phone with no avail. The reason why? Doug was at a cycling class getting his workout on, and left his phone in the car.
It’s lonely at the top
Kamala quickly learns that it’s lonely at the top. During her first call with other key Democrats to announce the plan for Kamala’s campaign and to solicit surrogates on her behalf, she received little support. According to 107 Days, Bill and Hillary Clinton were the only two on this phone call who immediately offered their support. Gavin Newsom said he would call her back after his jogging session (he never did), and Nancy Pelosi was unfazed; others on the call wanted to consult their teams before committing to Kamala.
When it was Kamala’s birthday, Doug also dropped the ball. She ended up spending the night in a hotel room on the campaign trail, soaking in the bathtub. He repurposed an anniversary gift. When reading this, I felt my heart sink for her. The loneliness of it all.
Loyalty questioned
It’s lonely at the top. And even lonelier when you are running for the highest office in the land, and the person who put you there is still questioning your loyalty. In 107 Days, we learned that Joe and Jill Biden, as well as their family and the Biden team, continued to question Kamala’s loyalty. This disturbs me because she’d shown time and time again that she was Team Joe. She defended him when no other Democrat on The Hill would. Even when she was running, she constantly brought up President Biden and didn’t distance herself from him like she should have.
It saddened me to read that the loyalty Kamala gave to Biden was hardly, if ever, returned. Yes, he did cosign her and passed her the torch, but it didn’t seem authentic. Kamala had to go it alone.
Supression
Yeah, folk didn’t like her laugh. But Kamala was suppressing so much more of her personality to appeal to voters who didn’t know her or her record as Attorney General of California, Senator, and then Vice President. I wish we could’ve seen Kamala raw and unfiltered, but the world wasn’t ready for her laugh, so seeing her be her authentic self was out of the question.
So much stress
Kamala carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. She was running against a man who would say and do anything to steamroll his opponent. Kamala had just 107 days to run a full campaign and to turn things around, and while she didn’t win, she did a damn good job.
Despite the Kamala’s loss, which many of us are still reeling from today, I have to give her and her team credit. In just 107 days, they accomplished amazing things. They raised more money than Joe and Donald, brought joy, uplifted millions of people all over the world, and unified what was a splintered party. If only more people had known what we know now. What many of us already knew. What Kamala tried to warn us about.
After reading this book, I don’t blame her if she decided not to run in 2028–and she’s pretty much said that. How does one give their heart and soul twice?
In closing
A little part of me wants to see her run again. If so, she has my vote. Again. But knowing everything she went through and endured, no one should have to go through that.
According to some journalists and pundits, 107 Days is Kamala blaming everyone else for her losing the presidency. That’s not the takeaway I received. She’s transparent, reflective, and takes ownership of the things she could’ve done better if she had the chance to do it again.
There is a little part of me that wants to see her run again. If so, she has my vote. As of this writing, the government is currently shut down, and I know there is a collective of us who understand this would not be happening if Kamala were POTUS.
If only…
I hope you’ve enjoyed my book review of 107 Days. Didn’t we almost have it all? In light of what we know now, it’s a hard pill to swallow.
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