Harris vs The Media

 Kamala Harris has had an amazing month. She went from loyally supporting Joe Biden in a reelection campaign that was floundering over his age and frailty to wrapping up the nomination in about 72 hours to vaulting into the lead in national and swing state polling. She has mobilized voters in a way not seen since Obama in 2008.

And the press hates her for it.

As Josh Marshall lays out, it is actually the press's job to be annoying and press for interviews. That's fine. However, every pundit seems to be a reporter who didn't want to work a beat anymore, so they've all decided that Harris has no vision and no policies. She's "ducking the press." 

In reality, ask yourself this. What is Harris' position on abortion? What's her position on the Affordable Care Act and Medicare? Social Security? Do you think she's pro- or anti-union? Do you think she supports Ukraine? 

I agree with the idea that elections are simply NOT about policy positions. They are about principles and, yes, vibes. We know the answers to the policy questions above, because we know that Harris shares the same principles as almost every elected Democrat. Democrats have been running on the more popular policy agenda for 35 years, and it doesn't always win them their elections. 

This is before we even crack open the yawning vault of ignorance and policy vacuity that is the Trump campaign. Harris is "light on details?" Trump says shit like "I will bring inflation down" and that's the extent of his "policy platform." Hell, the GOP did not even HAVE a platform in 2020.

Yes, Harris should and will do interviews. Frankly, she should do as many as possible with local media outlets in the swing states. Right now, she's talking to voters directly through her rallies and standing up a full blown campaign for president from a dead standstill. When she talks to reporters, she needs to avoid talking to the sort of vacuous dunderheads who will ask her process questions or what she thinks about Trump's latest insane ramblings. There are maybe five journalists in the country who might qualify for that.

She's winning right now. She's doing it right. Elections are about principles and vibes and she's right to focus on that. The convention will fill in some policy gaps, but hopefully not too many, as the press will use that to attack her, while ignoring the nonsense coming from the GOP.

We have to fumigate American Democracy from Trumpism, but we also have to fix the press. Telling them to go pound sand is a good start.