Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 35
Just what kind of president does Kamala Harris want to be?
After watching her much-hyped prime-time interview with CNN, it’s not clear if even Harris herself knows the answer to that question.The stakes were high for the interview. While Harris has taken questions from journalists on the campaign trail and had a handful of informal chats with TikTok content creators, this was to be her first sit-down interview with a major news outlet since she became the Democrats’ presidential candidate.
One of the major criticisms of Harris has been that she relied on “the vibe” to win over voters; personality over policy and style over substance. Primarily, she’s relied on not being Donald Trump.
Here was her opportunity to finally fill in the gaps, and let the world in on her agenda. It was a giant fizzer. Even soft ball, easily prepared for questions, such as what she would do on her first day in the White House, were batted away with responses so vague they bordered on nonsensical.
At this point in the race, with just over two months until election day, the lack of policy detail has become a tactic from the Harris camp. The less they reveal, the less Trump has to use against Harris. Without any policy substance with which to attack her, Trump has instead relied on accusations that Harris is a communist harbouring an extreme left-wing agenda.
That’s not true.
The one thing that Harris has revealed clearly about her politics and her agenda is that she is a pragmatist at heart. She has already walked away from her most left-of-centre positions including a ban on fracking, Medicare-for-all policy, mandatory gun buybacks, and decriminalising unauthorised border crossings.
Far from being a rabid ideologue, Harris has demonstrated that she is willing to do what it takes to win over the middle. And that includes abandoning what were once strongly-held convictions. However, she was keen to signal to her left wing supporters that she’s still on their side — even if that won’t actually count for much as she moderates her platform in an effort to capture votes in swing states.
“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” Harris said.
“I believe it is important to build consensus. It is important to find a common place of understanding where we can actually solve the problem.”
Trump himself gave a fair summation of the interview, using his social media platform Truth Social to post a one-word review: “BORING!!!”
And that’s probably the point. Boring is not among the words you could use to describe the former president. For the many Americans wary of what four more years of Trump could bring, a wilfully boring president probably doesn’t sound so bad.
