Kamala Harris: A blank slate

At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week, Vice President Kamala Harris seemed to mimic Joe Biden's 2020 campaign strategy as if she were in his basement, declining interview requests and letting especially uninformed voters project their own views onto her.

She can't escape her record, though the major media is doing their best to cover it up. Harris is a San Francisco liberal whose policies on taxes, abortion, crime, and other social issues, might shock the general public. They might also be surprised to know of Harris' failure to get along with some of her staff, many of whom quit in 2021 because they couldn't stand working for her.

Here's how Politico wrote a story three years ago: "In interviews, 22 current and former vice presidential aides, administration officials and associates of Harris and Biden described a tense and at times dour office atmosphere." Apparently not the "joy" Harris and Democrats were trying to sell in Chicago.

Gil Duran, who was Harris' communications director when she was California's attorney general, was interviewed by Ari Shapiro on NPR last month: Shapiro noted that "Harris has a reputation for high staff turnover. And while many former employees give anonymous quotes about their frustrations working for her, Gil Duran is one of the few former staffers who will speak on the record about it." Duran quit after just five months on the job because of what he called an "intimidating" and "tough environment."

Maureen Callahan of the UK Daily Mail put it less elegantly, but more accurately: "The deluded Cult of Kamala is now blindly worshiping a vacuous, policy-free and utterly inept leader."

During her acceptance speech last Thursday Harris made promises about helping the middle class that we've heard for decades. If previous Democratic presidents have failed to help the middle class, why should we expect Harris to do better? The best way to help the middle class, and everyone else, is to change policies (lower taxes, fewer regulations, reducing the debt which causes inflation that especially harms the middle class). Keeping much of the middle class addicted to government helps keep Democrats in office, enhancing their power.

Harris also promised to "fix" the border, a task President Biden asked her to do. She failed spectacularly. Enforcing laws already on the books would have been a good start.

Recall that President Biden promised to be a uniter and was perceived (again with help from the media — "Lunch Bucket Joe") to be a moderate. His first day in office Biden proved he was carrying water for his party's Bernie Sanders wing.

We heard Harris and other speakers mention "freedom" numerous times. What they really promote is license, defined by dictionary.com as: "excessive or undue freedom or liberty." In other words, life with few restraints — abortion, same-sex marriage, the ruination of our public education system.

An old saying referred to buying "a pig in a poke." A "poke" is a sack, so the image is of a concealed item being sold. Starting in the 19th century, this idiom was explained as a confidence trick where a farmer would substitute a cat for a suckling pig when bringing it to market.

That describes the presidential candidacy of Kamala Harris.

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Cal Thomas, America's most-syndicated columnist, is the author of 10 books.