The interview: Kamala Harris’ first meeting was particularly noted for its… ordinary side
After avoiding an in-depth interview with a reporter during the first month of her sudden presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris the first Thursday was particularly remarkable because of its apparent routine.
CNN’s Dana Bash, sitting down with Harris and her running mate Tim Walz at a Georgia restaurant, asked her about some of the issues she’s changed her stance on, the historic nature of her candidacy, what she’d do on her first day as president and whether she’d invite a Republican to be a cabinet member (yes, she said).
What Bash didn’t ask for – and the Democratic candidate didn’t volunteer – is why it took so long to submit to an interview and find out if she will do better again as a candidate.
With no interview clips or extended press conferences to dwell on, Republican nominee Donald Trump and his campaign made Harris’ failure to go after reporters a problem in and of itself. She promised to fix it by the end of August, and she delivered just before the end of the month.
In the interview, recorded earlier Thursday at Kim’s Cafe in Savannah, Georgia, Bash occasionally pressed Harris when the vice president didn’t directly answer a question. For example, she asked four times what led Harris to change her position on fracking — a controversial method of extracting natural gas from the landscape — compared to her brief presidential bid in 2020.
“How should voters view certain policy changes?” Bash asked, wondering whether the experience had led Harris down a different path. “Should they be totally convinced that what you’re saying now is going to be the policy?”
Bash twice asked Harris whether she would do anything differently, such as withholding some military aid to Israel, to help reach a Middle East peace deal. Harris stressed the importance of a deal but offered no specifics on how to get there.
When Bash sought a response from Trump suggesting that Harris had not recently highlighted her black roots, the vice president quickly put that aside. “Next question,” she said.
CNN political analyst David Axelrod suggested that Harris, by not giving interviews beforehand, had raised the stakes of what is usually a test facing presidential candidates. But after the Bash aired, Axelrod said she “did what she had to do.”
“What she needed to do was be the same person she was on stage last month,” said Axelrod, a former Obama aide when he was in the White House. He predicted the interview would ultimately have little effect on the campaign.
Seeking a personal connection with viewers, Bash asked Walz about his son’s emotional reaction to that speech at the Democratic convention, and a memorable photo of Harris’ niece from behind, watching her aunt deliver her speech to Democrats.
By including Walz in the interview, Harris joined a tradition followed by Donald Trump and Mike Pence, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and Biden and Harris themselves. But the move was notable for the lack of solo interviews and the condensed nature of her campaign.
Republicans complained that she was using Walz as a crutch, someone who could smooth over her boss’s tough moments and simply take up time that could have been used for questions directed at Harris.
“It’s yet another insult to American voters from Harris’ campaign,” the Wall Street Journal said. in an editorial THURSDAY.
In the end, Bash asked Walz only four questions — including one follow-up — and the vice presidential nominee did not intervene or add any answers to Harris.
It was Bash’s second campaign highlight. The “Inside Politics” host moderated the June debate between Trump and President Biden, an event where reporters were overshadowed by Biden’s poor performance that ultimately led to his resignation. abandoning his candidacy for re-election.
___
David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him on http://twitter.com/dbauder.
