107 Days

This is not a political memoir; it's a front-row seat to a political earthquake disguised as a Sunday morning. 107 Days takes you right into the Vice President's house, not the power centre you'd think, but a kitchen reeking with bacon, where the biggest drama is whether eight-year-old Amara will wait until 7:30 a.m. for pancakes. That comparison from domestic tranquility to national crisis makes the book impossible to ignore. When the secure phone rings at eleven minutes past one, the world comes to a standstill. With lightning speed, Harris is transitioning from a grandniece duty to being informed by a COVID-stricken, hoarse President Biden that he is dropping out. She's in sweatpants. Her chief of staff measures 4 feet in height. The pure, horrifying insanity of the given moment is the very blood and bones of this story, presenting the reader with a kind of leader who has to shift between the realms of domestic peace and political turmoil within a handful of inhaled breaths.

The most gripping element in this book is the unadulterated truthfulness regarding the events that occurred following the call. Harris is more than a simple narrator of the facts; she offers insight into the disorganised, frequently panicked meetings and the sheer panic of people surrounding her. We witness the decisive, tactical mind in action; her instant aversion to a tardy endorsement ('That would be ruinous'), her insistence upon no 'daylight' between the announcements, and her silent observation of the turmoil. This is a sense of insider realism that is gripping. We are there riding through the misery of watching the Atlanta speech, Biden's 'thready voice' and the disaster of him saying, 'we finally beat Medicare.' Harris is not only a loyal subordinate but a keen, critical observer. She discards the campaign's 'BULLSHIT' talking points, the infamous 'JOE BIDEN WON' memo, as she will not lie to the 'lyin' eyes of the American people. It is that instance of taking a stand of personal credibility over a politically expedient course of action that will define this book years down the line.

However, due to this narrative's laser focus on Harris's perspective, the story, though gripping, can at times be like an argument made for history. Although her judgment is impeccable, her tactics are demonstrated to be flawlessly balanced, thanks to her shrewd brother-in-law, Tony West, and his 'Red File', the description of others may come across as somewhat biased. In these pages, Biden and his team come off as being either sluggish or unsophisticated when compared to Harris's bold decisiveness. Although this control makes the story phenomenal, it does somewhat restrict the emotional range of the rest of the players involved in the tragedy of Biden's political demise. But this is only a small weakness in what can be considered a masterclass of a political play. The last, panicky sequence, the scramble to get the backing of the powers that be, the phone calls with the political heavy weights, the Clintons, Obama and Pelosi, who wants a primary, are pure, unfiltered access to the top of the pyramid.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. This is not a political piece; it is a seat at the table as a nation tries to decide on its future. And to have any idea of what it really is like when a political world goes boom and a new world is created out of the heat of one afternoon, you must read this. It is a powerful, honest and very much needed history account. However, it is important to keep in mind that since this book is so thoroughly rooted in American political strategy and the political process, it does not suit those who just want to read something simple or those who are bored easily by discussions of political terms, the logistics of the campaign or a whole lot of description of the inner world of the D.C. power process.