August 31, 2024
The news is no news. And maybe that’s the outcome Kamala Harris was hoping for after her premiere TV interview.
The news is no news. And maybe that’s the result Kamala Harris was hoping for after her first TV interview on Thursday since she was launched to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket on July 21.
There was a lot of hype – and certainly high “news” expectations – before the Vice President and his running mate Tim Walz sat down with CNN.
A lot of criticism too – especially from Donald Trump – he hasn’t given a single interview in the five-plus weeks since his party anointed him as its nominee, which is true. The hope is that Kamala Harris will implement her vision for America and detail some of the policies that will be implemented there.
But apart from knowing that he was making pancakes with bacon for his nephew when he called Joe Biden that he was getting rid of it, there were new details during the half-hour interview.
And that’s because Kamala Harris walks a fine line. How can you launch yourself as a candidate for change and at the same time distance yourself from the past when you are part of an incumbent administration where many voters criticize America’s problems? Mainly about the economy and immigration. His note “A new way forward”, is how Harris walked that line, and it still works today.
Economy
The change in tone is subtle. In terms of the economy, for example, the number one issue for voters struggling with high grocery prices, no one is pressuring Biden that everything is ok and the economy is firing on all cylinders. Harris seems to be more aware than his predecessor that voters don’t care about employment numbers or GDP data. He just thinks he’s paying 25 percent more for groceries than he did four years ago. So don’t try to tell America that the economy is strong if you don’t feel it in your pocket. But Harris erred on the side of gently reminding voters that it was better but quickly admitted more needed to be done and promised to work harder to force businesses to lower prices. There were no details on how he would do it, but admitting his pain at least made him feel heard. Not the headlines of the night of course – we heard about the economy last week in Chicago – but more exciting words.
immigration
Likewise the tone has changed on immigration. The old Harris who said building a border wall is not American and decriminalizing illegal immigration, now says “I believe there should be consequences”. But when asked by the CNN anchor to explain the apparent shift — toward the political center — Harris had another phrase. “My values have not changed”. He used the word several times that night to get himself out of potentially awkward situations. Harris pointed to his crackdown on “the illegal passage of guns, drugs and people across our border” when he was California’s attorney general while sidestepping obvious questions about why he didn’t do more to address the crisis in the past three years. half a year as Vice President. Donald Trump’s problem, Harris insisted, is because he told Republicans to “kill the bill” that would help solve the problem. “My values on what we need to do to secure the border, those values haven’t changed,” Harris said. Again, the answer isn’t new, but his calm, confident tone — a hard-nosed prosecutor (unlike Sleepy Joe) — works well with independent voters. Of course the reality is that unless the Democrats take back the House and hold the Senate, there isn’t much they can do.
Fracking
The most awkward moment of the night was an interaction about Harris’s swing on fracking, from saying he would ban it in 2019 to insisting he wouldn’t ban it as President. Trump is having a field day with these flip flops.
Again, Harris insists that the values have not changed, but says that the situation has changed. They are now of the opinion that the Biden-Harris administration has pumped billions of dollars into climate change measures in order to meet America’s carbon emissions goals and allow fracking to continue at the same time. More aggressive interviewees would push him, but no one would follow through. And of course there is no news. He had said as much before.
Gaza
Ditto on Gaza, the fine line Harris has to walk. But his response was, for me, the clearest answer in the interview. Harris may have shown more heart than Biden when he addressed the issue of “destroying” Gaza in a speech to delegates in Chicago. Of course his written words did not mention the supply of American bombs to Israel to carry out the war. But he was directly asked yesterday if he would stop supplying the weapons if he becomes President in November. “No” replied Harris.
Overall, the interview was a win for Harris and Walz – although he barely got a look at it! He allowed voters to get to know him better without giving away too much — or anything — about his policies for Trump and his team to attack him with. No new titles. But the important thing is that there are no negative titles. He might not be so lucky next time, on a different network with a less friendly anchor. But now the aides will be glad Harris didn’t fall at the first hurdle.
