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HUFFPOST Politics YTHUFFPOSTI
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Vice President Kamala Harris has been getting plenty of scrutiny and more than little grief over the lack of specificity in
her .
It’s not hard to see why, though some context might be nice too.
On the one hand, Harris hasn’t sat for interviews or held formal press conferences, or even posted a detailed agenda on her
campaign website. Until late last week, when her campaign published a series of proposals to “lower costs for American families,”
she hadn’t introduced or defended any major initiatives.
And while Harris had made clear in her speeches that she is mostly running on the same mainstream liberal agenda that President
Joe Biden had embraced in his budget proposals, that commitment leaves plenty of room for ambiguity ― which, truth be told, her
campaign has seemed in no rush to clear up. Last week, one anonymous adviser told The Atlantic’s Ron Brownstein that Harris’ team
wasn’t especially worried about critics demanding “five-prong policy agenda” items.
But Harris has actually gotten more specific since then, starting with that initiative on cost for American families she
introduced Friday.
In addition to its (controversial) call for a federal law against price-gouging, the initiative included proposals to give the
federal government more leverage over prescription drug prices, to extend extra financial assistance now available to people
buying health insurance on their own, to subsidize both the construction and purchase of housing, and to reinstate a
COVID-era cash stipend for families with children.
One, two, three ... hey, look at that. Five prongs.
And although the press release accompanying the announcement did not address the all-important question of how Harris intends to
fund these initiatives — which, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, could require up to $2 trillion in
new federal spending over the next decade — her aides subsequently made clear their intentions to raise corporate taxes to 28%.
The revenue from that alone would likely cover about half the new initiative’s cost.
That’s not the same as committing openly to that tax hike, or to filling out the rest of her presumably ambitious agenda as her
campaign has said she’ll do. Holding her to that vow (as HuffPost’s Jonathan Nicholson does today) seems completely fair, and
downright important on topics like immigration, trade and Gaza where even modest deviations from Biden policies could make a big
difference.
But (as Jonathan also notes) a little understanding about timing also seems in order.
So much has happened, so quickly, that it’s easy to forget Harris has been campaigning on her own for just a little more than four
weeks — and that, during that period, she’s had to take over the Biden campaign apparatus, pick a running mate and then plan the
convention she’s currently staging. Developing and presenting its policy agenda is something that typically takes a presidential
campaign many months.
Of course, that raises a whole other question, mostly and oddly missing from this debate: What on earth has Donald Trump been
doing this whole time?
Read more
— Jonathan Cohn (X @CitizenCohn, email [email protected])
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#
#
What Else Is Happening
The Barack Obama who took the stage in Chicago on Tuesday night evidently hasn’t given up on the ideals of the young man who
brought the house down in Boston 20 years ago. The “skinny kid with the funny name” who addressed the 2004 Democratic National
Convention established himself as a national political figure and laid the groundwork for what, four years later, would be his own
successful run for the presidency. Tuesday night, he was older and grayer, though still pretty skinny. And this time, his mission
was to promote the presidential candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris, rather than that of 2004 Democratic nominee (and
then-senator) John Kerry. But Obama’s underlying message was the very same call he issued in Boston — to find common ground with
would-be adversaries, to transcend division in a time of unprecedented polarization. And if it felt somehow incompatible with the
harsh realities of today’s political environment, it’s worth remembering that it seemed like a pretty audacious argument back
then, too.
Read more
The Democratic National Convention on Tuesday centered on a star-powered roll call naming Vice President Kamala Harris and
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as their candidates. Then, they turned up the heat on Donald Trump. Michelle Obama brought down the house
with a rousing speech with numerous high points across its nearly 22 minutes. But the former first lady got some of her biggest
applause when she made a reference to one of Trump’s inflammatory comments at June’s debate when the former president claimed
migrants were taking millions of “Black jobs.”
Read more
Former President Barack Obama delivered a lofty speech in support of Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, hailing her as a
visionary leader with the experience and values to help the country “move past some of the tired old debates that keep stifling
progress.” Harnessing Democrats’ sense of excitement about Harris, Obama presented the Democratic presidential nominee as a
natural heir to his optimistic first presidential bid. After explaining how the country needs a president committed to empowering
workers in “this new economy,” Obama said, “Kamala will be that president.”
Read more
Former President Barack Obama slipped in a joke about Donald Trump’s exaggerations about the crowds at his rallies during a
speech at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday. In his remarks at the convention in Chicago, Obama argued that Trump is
more concerned with the crowds he draws than with everyday Americans’ worries. “Here is a 78-year-old billionaire who has not
stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago,” he said. “There’s the childish
nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes,” he continued, making a suggestive “length”
gesture with his hands.
Read more
Section Header text Before You Go
* DNC Hits Trump Where It Hurts With Scathing Supercut Aimed At His Newest Sore Spot
* Doug Emhoff Tells The Awkward Story Of Meeting Kamala Harris
* Everybody Loved The DNC's DJ-Led Roll Call Full Of Bangers
* The Wildest Moments From The DNC's Completely Off-The-Hook Roll Call Celebration
* Railing Against ‘Oligarchs,’ Sanders Touts Harris’ Achievements For Workers
*
* How Trump’s Behavior Keeps Undermining His Most Effective Message
* Donald Trump Interview Goes Off The Rails During Cocaine-Focused Tangent
* Trump's Latest Claim About Crime Is A Real Doozy
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