For Democrats, Kamala Harris doesn’t need policies. Preferences are enough
By
Byron York
August 22, 2024 12:16 pm
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FOR DEMOCRATS, KAMALA HARRIS DOESN’T NEED POLICIES. PREFERENCES ARE ENOUGH. Republicans are frustrated that Vice President Kamala Harris has not outlined specific policy proposals in her last-minute run for president. She has apparently abandoned some of the views she held during her failed campaign for the Democratic nomination in 2019, but no one knows for sure because information about Harris’s positions has come out in dribs and drabs through spokespeople or unattributed news stories.
But look at the ecstatic crowds of delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where Harris will accept her party’s nomination tonight. Do you think they want detailed policy proposals? Not at all. And do you think they consider themselves in the dark about what Harris would do as president? Again, not at all.
They’re happy because even though they don’t have the wonkish details, in broad terms, they are certain of what Harris will do as president of the United States. She is a progressive Democrat, and they are confident she will act on the policy preferences of progressive Democrats. The cheering crowd in Chicago assumes she will hew to the basic progressive orthodoxy of taxing the rich, increasing transfer payments, expanding national healthcare, crippling the fossil fuel energy industry, and prioritizing racial and gender “equity.”
This is a bit of mass mind-reading, but the delegates and other Democratic insiders in Chicago probably feel confident that Harris will not surprise them. So no, they do not demand that she produce a 1,000-page policy manual. They know she will do what they want.
In that sense, Harris is running the perfect race for the bizarre political moment that Democratic Party insiders have created. Just compare her candidacy to previous years:
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/daily-memo/3131173/for-democrats-kamala-harris-doesnt-need-policies-preferences-are-enough/
