Is This Election About Policy?
Since the end of last week’s Democratic Convention, there have been mumblings that Vice President Kamala Harris needed, 1) to get her polices in place, and 2) have an interview with the press.
My first thought was that she had barely been in place as the candidate – only a month earlier President Joe Biden had stepped aside and the party coalesced behind the Vice President’s candidacy.
So what was the hurry for those impatient folks? In three weeks she had had to gain the votes of convention delegates, decide on a VP, then hit the road for a number of standing room only, successful rallies and other events. And while she was addressing the huge crowds, wasn’t she telling us her policies in her remarks?
And then she and VP nominee Tim Walz headed to Chicago where her team had pulled together an extremely successful convention in just three weeks.
Side note: What about that Roll Call dance party? As part of the nuts-and-bolts that can be extremely boring and dry at political conventions, Dems ratcheted it up this year and I was glued to the TV listening for what song would represent which state.
With all this in mind, I liked what Tom Nichols, professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College and staff writer at The Atlantic, wrote concerning policy issues during the 2024 election season (Policy Isn’t Going to Win This Election).
One of the great myths of American politics is that detailed policy positions are crucial to winning elections. Yes, policy matters in broad strokes: Candidates take general positions on issues such as taxes, abortion, and foreign policy. Rather than study white papers or ponder reports from think tanks, however, most voters count on parties and candidates to signal broad directions and then work out the details later.
In the 2024 election, policy details matter even less than they usually do. Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, seem to have figured this out. Harris has been blasted by Republicans for avoiding the press, and some journalists have griped that she hasn’t sat down for a long interview and didn’t make a major policy speech before this past Friday. But Harris and Walz seem to be making a strategic choice—and for now, a good one.
The people who seem to be waiting for policy issues are Republicans and media types but they are facing a headwind from voters who wonder where was this interest in policy concerning Trump … for the past nine years! The double standard has worn thin after all these years and there definitely is pushback. Besides, we have Project 2025 to go up against. Who wants to live under those draconian rules?
With only five weeks on the campaign trail so far, the Harris-Walz team has covered much territory with hardly a breather. Meanwhile, her team is building a coalition around an alternative vision of who we are and what we want to be. I’ve heard many people say just the fact that she is the candidate who is respectful and knowledgeable is good enough for now. She is, after all, out there talking with citizens.
Steve Schmidt begs to differ on the policy issue. Schmidt, a former Republican strategist who worked on the campaigns of President George W. Bush, presidential candidate John McCain, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, left the GOP and became a never-Trumper when Trump barged into the GOP. He makes the case that character matters more in the 2024 race than policy (The issue at hand is character. Period.):
Have you heard the latest?
Vice President Harris hasn’t been specific enough.
MAGA spokespeople are all over television making demands instead of threats for a change. Suddenly, they want answers. They want substance. They want details.
What a joke.
Does anyone else remember the bleach injection policy from the Trump years? The Greenland purchase? The Great Wall of Trump paid for by Mexico?
The issue at hand is character. Period.
Trump doesn’t have any — or maybe it’s more precise to say that the adjudicated rapist and convicted felon possesses a deformed character of heretofore undiscovered hideousness. He lacks judgement, wisdom, grace, integrity, empathy, decency and patriotism. Trump is, was and always will be an abomination, but by all means let’s take seriously his demands for substantive disquisitions and policy forums.
…
There is something we don’t talk enough about and we should. In a nation of 330 million people there are bound to be a fair number of whack jobs. Because of technology all of these people are instantly connected to each other, and have formed a community. It has a name: MAGA. They want to take control of everything and everyone.
The only decent American answer is, “NO.”
Now, that’s what I call a policy debate.
Commenters on social media have reinforced those thoughts, like this one for instance:
For all who say, “but what about her policies???” If her ONLY policy was to not be a dictator, or not give Putin Ukraine on a silver platter, or not institute a national abortion ban, or not abuse the insane presidential immunity the Supreme Court bestowed upon the office, or to make sure we held elections again (thus preserving our DEMOCRACY), IT WOULD BE ENOUGH. Any one of these policies (certainly not a comprehensive list) would be enough to justify choosing her over the competition.
There you go. Didn’t I mention earlier that I’ve heard many people say this?
I can tell you two policies that the Vice President mentioned in her convention speech that are in my top priorities: NATO and Ukraine, and funding for both. She’s going to be strong on foreign policy (as her acceptance speech at last week’s Democratic convention conveyed), and far better than Trump’s policy of snuggling up to the world’s dictators. How can the GOP support that?
The latest development is an in-person interview on CNN Thursday afternoon, to be broadcast Thursday night. Now Republicans, who were grumbling that she hadn’t done a press interview, are whining about its timing: why isn’t it being broadcast live, they wonder online.
Side note: Ever read the children’s book, “If You Give a Moose a Muffin”? Nothing you do is ever going to be enough. Much like the moose, Republicans will never be satisfied concerning the Harris-Walz team; give them an interview and the complaints are why isn’t it live.
And yet the people complaining are the ones supporting Trump with all his bombardment of dishonesty accompanied by word salads of absolute nonsense and slurring words. If his lips are moving, the chances are good that he is lying.
Background:
-USA Today: Kamala Harris surges ahead of Donald Trump in latest poll taken after DNC
-Reuters: Harris widens lead over Trump, Reuters/Ipsos poll shows
