vice president Kamala Harris was pressed about his policy developments first interview after he became the Democratic presidential nominee, he sat next to his running mate, Tim Walz.
The much-anticipated interview with CNN’s Dana Bash comes after Harris was pressured to answer more questions from impartial reporters and to reveal exactly how his vision differs from that of President Joe Biden. He refrained from doing anything for 39 days as he decided not to run for re-election and instead endorsed him.
“I think the most important and most important aspect of my policy perspective,” Harris said when asked about policy evolutions, “is that my values haven’t changed.”
However, he admitted that his experience as vice president has made him change his views on certain issues.
“I believe it’s important to build consensus and find common ground to understand where we can really solve problems,” Harris added, apparently hinting at how political realities may influence his views.
Harris ran for president in 2019 on a progressive agenda, including Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and a ban on hydraulic fracturing, a method of extracting natural gas or oil known as fracking. Biden chose Harris as his running mate, who naturally embraced his agenda and platform.
But it’s unclear where Harris himself on the ticket — along with the changed policy landscape — differs from the policies of the 2019 campaign and Biden’s policies, some of which are inconsistent.
Harris has not sat down for an interview or stopped by a news conference as Biden has stepped aside and endorsed him, meaning the public has seen him almost exclusively through the lens of campaign-led rallies, Internet videos and last week’s Democratic National Convention.
Any other modern presidential candidate in history would have conducted multiple solo interviews during the primaries and general election long before sitting down with their running mate for a joint interview in late summer.
But given the timing of Harris’ rise, he didn’t have that luxury. He had to reexamine his policy positions and build a campaign infrastructure in the heat of the general presidential election.
Harris is also trying to make a simultaneous shift to the ideological center, as is common for presidential candidates heading into the November election season.
For example, Harris told Bash that during his tenure as vice president, he no longer supports a fracking ban because he sees that climate change goals can be achieved without banning a major U.S. industry, oil and gas extraction. Battlegrounds of Pennsylvania.
“We can do this without banning fracking,” Harris said. “Actually, Dana, Dana, I voted the tiebreaker as vice president that increased the leases for fracking. Therefore, I know exactly where I stand.”
Still, Harris seemed defensive whenever he was forced to admit that he had changed his position or asked to comment on the evidence that led him to change his mind.
Harris did not directly answer a question about whether he supported decriminalizing illegal border crossings in 2019, but said illegal crossings “must have consequences” and cited his experience prosecuting transnational gangs as the “attorney general of a border state” in California.
Harris also expressed interest in appointing a Republican to the Cabinet.
“I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. “I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made, with different perspectives, different experiences,” Harris said. “And I think it would be in the best interest of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who is a Republican.”
Walz sat in silence for most of the interview, asking him about his own arguments, including moments from the past that played a part of his 24 years of experience in the Army National Guard.
Minnesota Governor Waltz, speaking after the 2018 school shooting, is referred to for It looked like a weapon he carried in “war” even though he had never seen combat.
Walz said his wife, Gwen, an English teacher, told him “my grammar isn’t always right,” but he dismissed the argument as Republican hooey.
“If it’s not that, it’s attacking my children for showing me love, or attacking my dog – I’m not going to do that. One thing I will never do is I will never degrade another member’s service in any way. I never have and never will. I have been very social. I think they can and do see my students coming out, former people I served with. They guarantee me. When I make mistakes, I certainly own up to it.”
The interview, which lasted only 30 minutes, could only cover so many topics. For Harris and Walz, many difficult questions remain unanswered. The candidates didn’t have time to explore the softer, but often just as attractive, focuses on their personalities or their relationships with each other.
For example, there was no question about the messy US withdrawal from Afghanistan or former President Donald Trump’s controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery this week.
Harris has faced growing calls from Republicans and many in the news media to answer tougher questions, and a single interview cannot completely silence what preceded the Sept. 10 debate with Trump.
“If you turn around [an interview] Barack Obama’s former chief strategist David Axelrod said on a CNN panel before the interview.