The presidential election process is long, but before this year it gave voters several opportunities to see the candidates face questions and deal with people who have different points of view.
The Democrats’ intraparty coup to oust President Joe Biden and nominate Vice President Kamala Harris without her securing a single primary voter has allowed her to bypass this challenging process. She is also now hiding from the media to minimize the chances of revealing how vacuous she is.
It is not that she isn’t doing any interviews. She recently sat with Oprah Winfrey for 90 minutes. And she took questions from supporters in the live audience. But it was call and response among the faithful rather than being a forum that tested her mettle for voters to see.
After Harris rambled for 30 seconds after one man’s question about immigration, Oprah noted that Harris had failed to answer. She then simplified the question into a multiple-choice format and allowed Harris to choose the right answer.
Firing Line this was not. Harris displays no qualities desirable in a chief executive.
Harris is on pace to do fewer interviews and press conferences than any major presidential candidate in history, according to Axios. Since she became a candidate, former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) have done 70 interviews and news conferences with television and press reporters. Harris and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) have done just seven.
Watching Harris repeat her rehearsed talking points with Oprah, it is easy to see why Democrats are eager to keep her hidden. She is not a convincing orator. She showed herself able to bait Trump into off-message moments during their debate, but distracting Trump into talking about how big and wonderful his rallies are isn’t as impressive as Harris’s fans think it is. Nor was it informative about her views and policies.
Harris has never in her life accomplished anything on a bipartisan basis. Not as senator, attorney general, or district attorney. Never has she led a successful effort to work with Republicans on legislation. Can she convince wayward Republican officeholders to support something she believes in? There is no evidence she can. Her campaign isn’t even trying to show otherwise.
If Harris’s hide-from-the-press strategy succeeds, if she is elected without taking any hostile questions from reporters or voters, she will have a very thin mandate to govern.
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Why did Harris flip-flop on decriminalizing illegal border crossing? Why did she flip-flop on banning private health insurance? Why did she flip-flop on mandatory gun buybacks? Did she indeed change her mind at all on these and other matters? Harris has not answered any such questions. Voters do not know what they are getting if they vote for Harris.
It may be enough to win this election by simply not being Trump. But once Harris needs Republican votes for legislation, she will quickly find out she has no mandate to give her leverage.