She didn’t shine but she passed the test of CNN cameras with sufficiency and a certain mastery. Kamala Harris in the first interview she gave after the Democratic nomination together with her vice Tim Walz, made no mistakes and above all no blunders. It was basically her ‘driving test’ at a national level and she managed to pass it with a clear path, without too many contradictions despite the fact that for days she has been accused of having made a sharp turn to the center, abandoning the too liberal soul of the party she came from.
Donald Trump immediately called her performance “boring,” but since he hasn’t found anything more insulting at the moment, the feeling is that Kamala Harris is a moving target for him that is getting under his skin. He continues to say that she is not serious and it is a bluff because she switches from one position to another. But the other night Harris explained her evolution very simply and clearly, arguing that over 3 years of vice presidency at the White House have led her to refine and smooth out her platform, adding that “I will not give up my values.”
When the interviewer brought her up on the subject of race and Trump’s controversy over whether she was Indian or American, referring to her Indian-Jamaican origins, she cut her short: “we’ve already made this point clear and I have nothing more to say, it’s old stuff, we just want to move forward…”
Pressed on the possible collaboration with Congress and the opposition, she was very explicit: “I want to be the president of all, I do not intend to divide but to unite the country, there is room for everyone… A divisive trend that has been advancing for a decade must be reversed…”. Then she added: “I will gladly take a Republican into my administration…”.
The real date that counts now is September 10 in Philadelphia, when there will be the first face-to-face with Donald Trump for 90 minutes on the ABC network, without notes available and without an audience. On the microphone open or closed when the opponent has the floor, Harris’ team would like it to be open so they can respond live. But this time it is Trump’s team that is opposed and on September 10 they will remain closed as negotiated during the confrontation with Joe Biden.
While Kamala’s main issues remain the threat to democracy represented by Trump, abortion and women’s rights, access to public health care, and tax increases for billionaires to reduce them to the middle class, the American vice president has shown that she wants to play the field immediately by clarifying that she is no longer opposed to fracking, the accelerated method for extraction, nor to a tightening of the rules to combat illegal immigration.
“There is a bipartisan bill that Donald Trump has blocked,” Harris said. “Take it back to Congress and put it on my desk. When I am president, I will sign it immediately…”
Trump counters her by threatening to deport millions and millions of illegals even if they have lived in the US for decades and pay taxes. But on this the majority of Americans lean towards the ultra hard line. Kamala in economics discounts the increase in prices and rates but relaunches with a housing plan for 6 million units, to be built with tenants and builders, and waves a check for 6,000 dollars of aid to all families who have a new child. Defense of Ukraine and Israel, but with the aim of Palestinian self-determination with the request for an immediate truce in Gaza, are the chapters of international politics. She turns towards the center in search of independents and moderates and Trump distances himself on abortion saying that the measures in Florida of 6 weeks are too few. On the field the Democrats have recruited over 1 million volunteers. The Republicans less than a third but have infrastructure and Maga offices up and running for 2 years. The winds heading into September 10th are in Harris’ favor, but it will remain a tense match until the end.