{"id":2315868,"date":"2024-07-30T07:52:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T11:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kamala-harris-unburdened-by-what-has-been-her-record-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-07-30T07:56:34","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T11:56:34","slug":"kamala-harris-unburdened-by-what-has-been-her-record-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kamala-harris-unburdened-by-what-has-been-her-record-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamala Harris, unburdened by what has been her record &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fkamala-harris-unburdened-by-what-has-been-her-record-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2315868&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses Vice President Kamala Harris&#8217;s evolving public narrative as she embarks on her \u2064presidential campaign. It \u2064highlights \u200bher efforts to revise the public perception of her past policies while navigating the \u2062media landscape, particularly surrounding her controversial tenure \u200cas &#8220;border \u200cczar.&#8221; The narrative examines how sympathetic media \u200coutlets have begun retroactively altering their portrayals \u200cof her, assisting in reshaping her image by downplaying\u200d previous positions on issues like \u2064fracking and immigration, framing her shifts as responses to criticisms rather than admissions of misstep.<\/p>\n<p>The article \u2064also mentions the\u2064 strategic advantages Harris may gain by avoiding a competitive primary process, allowing her to focus on crafting a general election platform that aligns more closely with popular appeal rather\u200b than engaging in extensive promises to\u2063 specific party factions.\u200b It highlights the challenges that come with such a strategy, particularly\u2064 the risk of her past positions being scrutinized differently compared to other politicians, such as former President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Harris\u2019s campaign appears to be constructed on a blend\u2064 of distancing herself from her controversial past while presenting a new narrative that positions her as a candidate \u200dfocused on \u200dthe future\u2014a \u2063move that echoes the broader\u200b Democratic strategy of balancing \u2063traditional party issues with more centrist appeals.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Kamala Harris, unburdened by what has been her record<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1716255\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/3100147\/on-kamala-harris-role-media-cross-border-outright-lies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>border czar flap<\/a> was just the beginning.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kamala-harris\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Kamala Harris<\/a> is carefully editing the public record to excise inconvenient parts of her time serving with President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Joe Biden<\/a> and the more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/far-left-wisconsin-dem-clinches-senate-nom\/\" title=\"Far-Left Wisconsin Dem Clinches Senate Nom\">controversial policy positions<\/a> she took in her first run for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/white-house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>White House<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Sympathetic media have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3099047\/media-outlets-backtrack-border-czar-title\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>willing to aid in this effort<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/media-rushes-declare-kamala-harris-border-czar-immigration-crisis-haunts-campaign\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>retroactively correcting<\/a> years-old references to Harris as border czar in their own reporting and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semafor.com\/article\/07\/22\/2024\/can-kamala-harris-overcome-the-ghosts-of-2019\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>contextualizing<\/a> her discarded policy positions as the product of a progressive Democratic fever in 2019-20 that has since broken.<\/p>\n<p>One <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/3100147\/on-kamala-harris-role-media-cross-border-outright-lies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>news report<\/a> about Harris&rsquo;s revised position on fracking initially framed it as a response to a Republican accusation rather than a Harris reversal. (The headline was later updated.) Another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/07\/24\/kamala-harris-border-czar-immigratin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>lamented<\/a> the &ldquo;border confusion&rdquo; that &ldquo;haunts&rdquo; Harris since she effectively took over as the top of the 2024 Democratic ticket.<\/p>\n<p>Some in the liberal intelligentsia go further, arguing that an inherent advantage of bypassing a competitive, small-d democratic primary process this time around means that a new platform can be fashioned for the general election only.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;But I think the merit of skipping a primary is that you don&rsquo;t need to make huge public promises to your base groups,&rdquo; the liberal pundit Matthew Yglesias <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slowboring.com\/p\/kamala-harris-should-shake-the-etch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>writes<\/a>. &ldquo;You need to write down a brief, realistic agenda of items the public wants to hear about.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Yglesias <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mattyglesias\/status\/1817875703418823072\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>put it<\/a> another way on X, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-new-acting-attorney-general-jeff-rosen-recently-wrote-an-essay-on-foreign-influence-in-us-elections-this-tells-us-a-little-about-his-knowledge-of-whats-going-on-today\/\" title=\"The New Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen Recently Wrote an Essay on Foreign Influence in US Elections \u2013 This Tells Us A Little About His Knowledge of What\u2019s Going On Today\">social media platform<\/a> formerly known as Twitter: &ldquo;By skipping a primary you can skip the part of the election where you make lots of explicit cringey promises to various elements of your base and just write down a few popular issues to run on and tell everyone else to be chill.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Chill&rdquo; in what way? Harris &ldquo;should send a quiet emissary to the immigration advocacy community to tell them not to be idiots, that if a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill passes Congress, she&rsquo;s obviously not going to veto it&hellip;. Was she the &lsquo;border czar?&rsquo; Who cares!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>It is fine for liberal commentators to advise Harris to adopt this type of messaging. It is significantly more problematic for straight news outlets to allow Harris to flip-flop and memory-hole unpopular or too-radical positions while not allowing former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Donald Trump<\/a> or Sen.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jd-vance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title> J.D. Vance<\/a> (R-OH) similar latitude with theirs.<\/p>\n<p>Trump can repeatedly disavow Project 2025 or federal abortion bans less easily than Harris can distance herself from past advocacy for the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, decriminalizing border crossings, or banning fracking.<\/p>\n<p>On <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/abortion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>abortion<\/a> in particular, Trump clearly did try to avoid &ldquo;explicit cringey promises to various elements of&rdquo; his &ldquo;base and just write down a few popular issues to run on and tell everyone else to be chill.&rdquo; The 2024 Republican platform was rewritten accordingly, largely urging states to use the powers they regained when <em>Roe v. Wade <\/em>was reversed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/whistleblower-new-hampshire-medical-society-pushed-doctors-to-sign-planned-parenthood-late-term-abortion-letter\/\" title=\"Whistleblower: New Hampshire Medical Society Pushed Doctors To Sign Planned Parenthood Late-Term Abortion Letter\">ban late-term abortions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>None of this will prevent Harris from making abortion access one of the top issues in her campaign to defeat Trump this November.<\/p>\n<p>Campaigns are indeed about the future. Past records are nevertheless an important indicator of what is to come.<\/p>\n<p>Harris is trying to run less as a continuation of Biden or the liberal alternative to him she presented herself as in her failed first presidential campaign than as a California prosecutor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3095096\/the-return-of-kamala-the-cop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>throwing the book<\/a> at felon Trump. The references to her being unburdened by what has been or having just fallen out of a coconut tree are already cliches a little over a week into her campaign, yet both catchphrases are apt metaphors for her campaign strategy.<\/p>\n<p>In some ways, this is a type of continuity with Biden. Biden spent a half-century trying to find the center of gravity inside the Democratic Party and position himself accordingly. Harris&rsquo;s campaign so far is following in that tradition.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans for decades ran to the right in primaries and then tacked to the center for the general election. It is part of why the party became so disenchanted with its leaders and governing class.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But the last Republican presidential nominee before Trump, Mitt Romney, did end up paying a political price for adopting a slightly different persona in each race he ran for a quarter century. &ldquo;Look, I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I&rsquo;m not trying to take us back to Reagan-Bush,&rdquo; Romney said in his first campaign, the 1994 Senate race against Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts. Romney capped his political career with a single Senate term representing Utah, being hailed as one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/thedispatch.com\/newsletter\/boilingfrogs\/the-last-reaganite\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>last Reaganites standing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2012\/03\/21\/politics\/campaign-wrap\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Romney &ldquo;Etch-a-Sketch&rdquo;<\/a> was not a winning model in 2012 because the media, his opponents, and his own base would not let him get away with it. Harris may not be burdened by such things.<\/p>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1716255\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1716255\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kamala Harris is strategically reshaping her public image by removing uncomfortable aspects of her tenure alongside President Joe Biden and the contentious policy stances she adopted during her initial presidential campaign. Supportive media outlets have assisted in this endeavor, retroactively altering references to Harris as the &#8220;border czar&#8221; in their reporting and framing her previously abandoned policy positions as a response to a progressive wave that has since subsided. For instance, one report on Harris&#8217;s changed stance on fracking initially presented it as a reaction to Republican criticism rather than an admission of error on her part, although the headline was later revised. Another article expressed concern over the &#8220;border confusion&#8221; that has followed Harris since she effectively became the leading candidate for the 2024 Democratic ticket.<\/p>\n<p>Some liberal commentators suggest that bypassing a competitive primary allows for crafting a new platform solely for the general election. Matthew Yglesias noted that skipping primaries means avoiding making extensive promises to base groups and instead focusing on creating a concise agenda addressing public interests. He suggested that Harris should discreetly communicate with immigration advocates to reassure them about supporting bipartisan immigration reform if it passes Congress.<\/p>\n<p>While it&#8217;s acceptable for liberal analysts to recommend this approach, it&#8217;s more troubling when mainstream news outlets permit Harris to shift positions without holding her accountable in ways they do not allow former President Donald Trump or Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH). Trump faces challenges disavowing certain policies compared to how easily Harris can distance herself from past support for initiatives like the Green New Deal or Medicare for All.<\/p>\n<p>Despite these shifts, campaigns are fundamentally about future aspirations; however, past records remain significant indicators of potential outcomes. Currently, Harris aims not just to continue Biden&#8217;s legacy but also position herself as an assertive opponent against Trump. Phrases describing her as unburdened by history have quickly become clich\u00e9s but aptly reflect her campaign strategy.<\/p>\n<p>This approach mirrors Biden\u2019s long-standing effort to find his place within the Democratic Party while also reflecting historical patterns where Republicans would move right during primaries only to pivot back toward centrist positions in general elections\u2014a tactic that has led many within their party feeling disillusioned with leadership.<\/p>\n<p>Mitt Romney serves as an example of someone who faced political repercussions for presenting different personas throughout his career; he struggled with consistency between his various campaigns over 25 years and ultimately did not succeed in 2012 due partly to media scrutiny and opposition pressure.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, it appears that Kamala Harris may navigate these challenges differently without facing similar constraints<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2659,"featured_media":2315869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Harris_election_camapaign_9988776633.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[7428,32438,5894,4752,32076],"class_list":["post-2315868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-analysis","tag-kamala-harris","tag-politics","tag-record","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Harris_election_camapaign_9988776633.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2315868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2315868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2315868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2315868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2315868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2315868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}