It has been a month since Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. And a glorious month it’s been for Democrats, with an energized party, large, enthusiastic crowds, and adoring press coverage. “Our next president brings the joy,” said Tim Walz, her vice-presidential choice, at a rally in Detroit.
But with all the kumbaya—despite fears of a 1968 reprise, the Dems have put on a mostly drama-free show in Chicago—Harris has avoided saying a single substantive thing, either about her record as vice president or the kind of policies she hopes to enact if she is elected. Her speeches have been heavy on the rhetoric and light on the substance. Most notable of all is that she has yet to give either a press conference or an interview—not even for a hagiographic profile in Time magazine.
What is Kamala Harris afraid of?
The reasons for Harris’s evasion of the press are her own, but we think she has two chief motivations. First, she understands that without having to answer tough questions, she never has to worry about straying from her message. The second is that Harris doesn’t want to answer direct questions about her record—and her plans for the future—because both are lacking.
Take last Friday, for instance, when Harris held a rally in North Carolina where she unveiled her economic plan. The event was supposed to mark the beginning of her policy agenda for her first 100 days. Harris promised rally-goers that she would usher in an “opportunity economy” where “everyone can compete and have a real chance to succeed.” An economy where “everyone, regardless of who they are, where they start, has an opportunity to build wealth for themselves and their children.”
Good vibes. Until you hear how she plans to do it: by setting price controls—an idea that betrays a below-average understanding of how the economy works.
The Washington Post Editorial Board—not a group you can accuse of carrying water for Republicans—said that “instead of delivering a substantial plan,” Harris “squandered the moment on populist gimmicks.”
Former Obama chief economic adviser Jason Furman told The New York Times that his “biggest hope” for the economic ideas Harris laid out in that speech is that it “ends up being a lot of rhetoric and no reality.”
“This is not sensible policy,” Furman said. “There’s no upside here, and there is some downside.” That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement from one of the economic policy gurus of the Democratic Party.
Harris has offered no meaningful response to these criticisms. (For more on this, read Niall Ferguson’s column, “The ‘Barbenheimer’ Election.”)
As Harris’s policy deficiencies become hard to ignore—even for a loyal legacy press—her evasions may turn more costly. Her challenger for the presidency, former president Donald Trump, appears to love nothing more than sitting down for long interviews. (He most recently had an hour-long conversation with comedian Theo Von, though the viral clip from the podcast was about cocaine addiction, not tax policy.) A chat with a comedian isn’t exactly a sit-down with The Wall Street Journal, but Trump has also held a number of press conferences recently. They were typical of Trump—unscripted, rambling, hyperbolic. But there is no doubt where he stands on immigration, trade, and a host of other issues that are important to Americans.
No rule requires Harris to hold a press conference or sit for an interview between today and Election Day. With candidates now able to get their message across via social media, Harris can talk directly to voters. But the electorate is entitled to know how she plans to govern—not to mention how she responds to critics of her time as vice president.
With 75 days until the election, the Harris campaign has yet to post a single policy page on its website. Maybe, in the end, she thinks that joy alone can get her across the finish line.
Or maybe she believes the press and its commissars will do her job for her.
“Such a whiny brat. Poor widdle reporter can’t get the access he wants. But so representative of so much of the ‘press,’ ” longtime journalism professor Jeff Jarvis chastised The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg. Feinberg had the nerve to notice that print reporters were being barred from the floor at the DNC.
As her campaign surrogate, Kaivan Shroff, told ABC News this week: “The more details you share the more your policies get picked apart, but what [Kamala] is saying is. . . she trusts journalists to explain these policies and our values to folks. When that happens, it will be successful for Democrats.”
That’s called saying the quiet part out loud.
Madame Vice President: This is an open invitation. We’d love to sit down with you: tips@thefp.com.
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