Here’s what I love about what Kamala Harris is doing right now

| 8:17 pm EDT October 8, 2024
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Even as the mainstream political media has spent the week trying to figure out what ratings-friendly narratives it wants to manufacture for the final month of the election, Kamala Harris has decided to step outside of that bubble entirely. She appeared on an extremely popular podcast. She appeared on the Howard Stern show. She appeared on The View. These are all ways to reach potential voters who don’t pay any attention to political news outlets. So it was good strategy. But here’s what I really like.

Kamala didn’t go on these shows just to yuk it up and try to look cool. While making these kinds of nonpolitical media appearances, she’s tackled some very serious things. On the podcast she managed to give one of the best answers a candidate has ever given when she was asked about Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ claim that the “childless” Harris doesn’t have anyone to keep her humble: a woman doesn’t need to have the goal of being humble.

Kamala Harris also announced an absolutely crucial policy position this week when she proposed adding home health care to Medicare. Most Americans either have an elderly relative who could benefit from home health care, or know someone with an elderly relative, or are that elderly relative. When a senior’s home health care falls to younger relatives, it can end up negatively impacting quality of care, quality of life, and the quality of the American workforce.

Of course Kamala Harris will need a House and Senate to pull off such changes to Medicare. But what a smart, savvy, compassionate policy position this is. And she’s rolling this out while she’s making all of these nonpolitical media appearances where she can get the message across the most cleanly.

Kamala Harris could have spent this week doing interviews with traditional political media outlets that would have wasted her time asking for her take on Trump’s latest insults and lies. Instead she managed to bypass that completely, in favor or something much more effective and much more important.