Kamala Harris isn’t hiding and campaigning from a basement like Joe Biden did in 2020. Instead, she’s speaking to excited crowds and connecting with modern cultural trends. She’s confidently responding to Donald Trump’s attacks.
In just a few weeks, she has transformed from an underwhelming vice president to a figure reminiscent of Barack Obama. However, unlike Obama, who was a skilled and talented politician, Harris’s team seems to worry about her handling unscripted situations.
Biden’s basement campaign kept him from needing to build a crowd but included interviews. In contrast, Harris’s 2024 campaign relies heavily on teleprompters to avoid unscripted moments that might disrupt the positive media image built around her. This approach is similar to Biden’s pre-debate strategy this year, which also aimed to minimize challenging settings.
Kamala’s issue isn’t forgetting names or dates, but she often repeats the same ideas in different words, creating an endless loop of bland statements. For instance, she recently praised President Biden’s diplomacy in a confusing and repetitive way, making her point difficult to follow.
Because she hasn’t been frequently speaking without a script, we don’t really know her true thoughts on recent events, her leadership plans, or her reasons for changing positions since she last ran for president. Usually, a single flip-flop by a candidate is heavily discussed, but Kamala has changed her stance on several issues without much media scrutiny.
The campaign will eventually need to do interviews. They might start with friendly outlets like MSNBC and then move to more credible journalists like Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes.” Until then, Harris will likely stick to scripted appearances.
It’s surprising that the Democrats replaced one candidate they didn’t trust with interviews (Biden) with another, younger candidate they also don’t trust with interviews (Harris). This highlights why Trump should debate Harris: it might be one of the few ways to reveal her true capabilities.
Harris is out of the basement but is never off-script.