Members of the media agree: Vice President Kamala Harris need from start doing Press conference and the interview with members of the media.
It’s been almost a month since Harris suddenly became the Democratic presidential nominee. During that time, Harris occasionally Answer the question briefly From journalists in public – and have What has been said has been said His travel press pulls off the record. But he did not do any formal interview and did not hold any formal press conference.
To be honest, he is quite busy. In just a few weeks, Harris had to launch a campaign, hit the trail, pick a running mate, craft a policy platform and message, and oversee preparations for a convention.
August 8 Harris Dr said He “wanted to have an interview scheduled before the end of the month.” With so much flow, it’s perhaps not surprising that high-stakes reporter Q&As aren’t at the top of the priority list.
But should they be?
If you zoom out from the electoral stakes, of course it’s bad for democracy if politicians avoid talking to the press. Of course we should, in the abstract, expect the next potential future president to publicly answer questions about their proposals and other topics in the news.
Also, since Harris’ campaign started unusually late, the public deserves to know more about him. If she is seen mainly in the tightly controlled and scripted settings of advertisements, rally speeches and social media clips, we cannot learn much about her views on issues and topics she does not like to address, or assess how she reacts to unplanned events. Can’t do it
But while it’s tempting to say (and convenient for reporters to argue) that getting more press on Harris is both the right thing to do and the smart thing strategically for him, things may not line up so neatly.
Interviews and press conferences are risky for any politician. There’s no guarantee they’ll go well, and especially for Harris, something in recent years has has been notoriously bad. As a candidate trying to win an election (against an opponent who is hostile to democracy and uses his own press presence Lying and exaggerating), he will naturally weigh the risks and rewards of what might help or hurt his campaign
So what is arguably the right thing for the health of our democracy — facing some tough questions from the media — may not really be the best strategy to help Harris win. However, being unavailable indefinitely poses its own strategic risks and is likely unsustainable in the long run.
Awkward interviews have haunted Harris in the past
Since joining Harris Race, he has jumped A short lead out in the election and benefited from largely positive media coverage. The Democratic base has rallied around him and so far voters seem to like what they see. And all this happened without a formal press conference or interview.
With things trending so positively, interviews and press conferences present mainly negative risks. Here’s the thing: The campaign probably calculates that it’s unlikely that many undecided voters will be swayed by what he says in such a format (Harris can exercise more complete control over messaging as opposed to marches and ads), while an unrealistic answer could generate plenty of new. Negative coverage and attacks.
Harris has suffered similar fates in the past.
In January 2019, at the start of his presidential campaign, anchor Jake Tapper Ask at a CNN town hall His support for Medicare-for-all meant whether he wanted to eliminate private health insurance. Harris replied that, yes, you no longer have to go through a private insurance company: “Let’s eliminate them. Let’s move on.” This answer, and the topic of health care in general, will dog him in the coming months (he Will eventually back off in his reply).
Accounts of Harris’s vice-presidency are generally a treat June 2021 Interview With NBC News’ Lester Holt the moment That ends his interview. Tasked by President Joe Biden with addressing the root causes of illegal immigration, Harris prepared to discuss those policy issues and his recent trip In Guatemala and Mexico. But Holt pressed him with a different question: Why hadn’t he gone to the border yet?
The question was of unquestionable relevance – how much can a president or vice president really learn from a brief border drop-by? And Harris was tasked with dealing with “root causes” and immigration-related diplomacy with the Mexican and Guatemalan governments, not border security supplies.
But Harris replied strangely. Instead of just batting with a vague answer that he planned to visit the border later, he said he would go at some point but then emphasis “We’ve been to the border,” repeating the phrase four times. Holt naturally stated that he had not actually been to the border. Harris replied: “And I haven’t been to Europe,” and laughed, before saying he didn’t understand Holt.
Harris seems to be trying to say that you don’t always have to physically go somewhere to learn a lot about policy issues, and he’s only been in office a few months and hasn’t traveled all over the place yet. Regardless of what he meant, that exchange instantly became the only thing anyone focused on in that interview, and it earned Harris much ridicule and criticism. Surprisingly, he did very few interviews after that.
Accounts of Harris’ thinking suggest that he prepares intensely for such interviews, that he is extremely concerned about things going wrong, and that he believes that racism and sexism give him less room for error. “She felt she would be unfairly punished by the press corps if she ever faltered — and her slipups would make it difficult for every black woman in her path,” Franklin Foer wrote in her book about the Biden administration. The Last Politician.
Harris may feel he has to give interviews to avoid negative coverage for not giving interviews
In some situations politicians have good reason to talk to the press. Some want to increase their prominence and name recognition. Some expect their numbers to turn around because they are losing. Some want to promote their ideas.
None of that currently applies to Harris, who has received a lot of coverage since unexpectedly becoming the new Democratic nominee, who currently leads the polls and who is still honing his ideas for a campaign and management agenda.
But there’s actually a strategic case that more press could be beneficial to Harris — or, at the very least, it could avoid potential future losses.
For one, if a candidate does not have enough practice pressing in unscripted settings, he may become rusty and perform poorly when such settings are unavoidable. (This may be one factor explaining Biden’s candidacy-destroying performance in the June debate.)
Additionally, if Harris avoids the interview, grumbling from the press will increase, and the narrative that he is too afraid or unqualified to give interviews may catch on, generating negative coverage that he has thus far avoided.
Finally, the post-convention period is arguably the best time to press Harris, since as Election Day approaches, the media typically frames the coverage much more as a binary choice for voters between the two nominees. It’s a frame Harris likely prefers, as he can focus on making the case against Trump.
So, expect Harris to do more press soon after the convention ends. But probably not much—unless he sees something in it for her.
