In his latest Bastiat’s Window post, Bob Graboyes offers some excellent observations about that.

He comments,

Democratic voters and donors emphatically rejected Kamala Harris before the first caucus votes were cast in 2020. Primary voters were on the verge of sending the aging, stumbling Joe Biden to the cornfield with Harris. Then, party grandees rescued Biden, and more capable candidates scurried for the exits. In recent years, the American Left had made race and gender (i.e., Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, or “DEI”) their central organizing principle, and Biden was pressured to choose a woman of color—an avatar of two “victimized” groups—as his running mate. This effectively limited his choices to a handful of Congressional backbenchers, a couple of mayors, the deeply problematic Susan Rice, and Harris—whose most memorable campaign moments were withering before Tulsi Gabbard’s questioning and accusing Biden of racism.

Ah, yes — the “diversity” imperative. Leftists want to compel all of us to embrace it. But their embrace of it led to their electoral disaster.  Choosing Kamala Harris was sort of like a football team looking for a quarterback thinking: “We could choose one who we know is good at handling and throwing the ball, or we could choose one who optimizes our diversity. Let’s do the latter!”

Graboyes has much more to say about the Democratic debacle. I especially enjoyed this:

Democratic leaders anointed Harris, secure in the knowledge that biased, incurious, and clueless reporters would not demand substance or policy details from her. Fawning entertainers reinforced this flaccidity—culminating in her dreary appearance on Saturday Night Live.

In contrast, hostile reporters and biting satirists have honed Republicans’ communication skills. If Democratic politicians faced similar trials-by-fire, party leaders would have hesitated to choose a nominee as intellectually and verbally torpid as Harris. If somehow nominated in that sort of environment, hard-hitting journalists and clever comedians might have forced Vice President Harris to up her game (if such was possible). Over time, Democrats lost their sense of humor along with their fluency. Trump’s stunts with McDonald’s and a garbage truck were funny and effective. Humorless Democrats responded with the same hysteria that leads them to vilify stand-up comics and wail about microaggressions.

Much to savor. Read the whole thing.