WASHINGTON — Gone are Joe Biden’s grim warnings about the life-and-death risks to American democracy.
Instead, Kamala Harris talks animatedly about protecting abortion rights and limiting drug costs, reducing inflation and boosting the middle class.
While Biden harped on the MAGA movement’s threat to democracy, Harris presents a sunnier vision of a nation made up of “neighbors, not enemies.”
Less than three weeks after Biden dropped out of the presidential race, his successor is in the early stages of revamping his campaign message, making it his own.
Harris is differentiating herself from Biden, expanding positions that reflect her own priorities and commitment to running what she calls a “joyful” campaign. She hopes to present more defined plans for what she would do at the start of a presidential term, giving voters a clearer picture of how she would govern, people close to her said.
As early as next week, Harris will begin highlighting unfinished parts of Biden’s agenda that she would champion as president, including universal child care, paid family leave, affordable housing and raising the minimum wage, according to a person familiar with the discussion. speaking on condition of anonymity.
“She’s going to say we’re all in this together. Bringing people together is what the country needs, and it’s great politics,” said Jim Messina, who managed Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
No one in Harris’ orbit expects her to repudiate Biden’s policies. As vice president, Harris is stuck with her record — good parts and bad.
A recent campaign ad from a Democratic super PAC described how Harris “fought to cap the price of insulin” at $35 a month — crediting her with what Biden has long considered one of his signature achievements.
What’s more, Biden and his heir apparent remain on good terms. Biden will attend a joint campaign event with Harris in the coming weeks, one of her advisers said. He will also raise money for her and meet with parts of the Democratic coalition to promote her candidacy, this person said.
Amid signs that his approval rating is rising now that he is no longer on the ballot, Biden is potentially a valuable campaign partner, Democratic strategists said. Vice President Al Gore avoided the popular if scandal-prone Bill Clinton when he ran for president in 2000. It would be a mistake for Harris to do something similar, strategists said.
ONE Marist College Survey taken after Biden left the race found that his approval rating, while still below his disapproval rating, had risen to 46% — his highest number in 2 1/2 years.
“He feels comfortable talking to the same type of voters that she needs to be able to appeal to the Midwest,” said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist.
Some clues suggest where Harris and Biden’s priorities may diverge. Biden took pains to showcase the physical infrastructure upgrade he signed into law. He was so fixated on highway projects that his former White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, said privately that he was spending too much time talking about bridges, according to audio obtained by Politico.
Harris seems more enthusiastic about the “care economy”, a set of policies designed to alleviate the financial burdens of those who raise children and care for the elderly and people with disabilities, among other things.
His first speeches as a Democratic standard-bearer leaned heavily toward helping middle-class families struggling with high food and gas prices — real-world problems that may be more immediate and concerning to many voters than the durability of democracy.
Harris reached a rhetorical climax in a speech in Philadelphia on Tuesday when she promised to fight for women’s freedom “to make decisions about their own bodies, without the government telling them what to do!”
Biden, a practicing Catholic, has struggled with the issue of abortion and remained uneasy as he discussed it at the table. As a woman, Harris can speak more fluently about restoring a right that a conservative Supreme Court majority took away, her supporters say.
“Any woman knows what it’s like to suggest that the government tell us what we can do with our bodies,” California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis said in an interview. “Whether it’s a presidential candidate or a local voter, we understand viscerally what this issue means to us. So naturally, she is the best advocate for restoring women’s freedom in this country.”
“Freedom” is the key word Harris uses when discussing what’s at stake in the election, including what she sees as former President Donald Trump’s threat to democracy, a member of her team said.
Biden used the same word, although he tended to underline the danger that Trump posed, while Harris points to the possibilities that would open up if the Democrats kept the White House.
Harris mentioned “democracy” just once in her speech in Philadelphia, the day after she formally won the Democratic Party nomination. And this was in the context of how it empowers people to decide the future for themselves.
A more prominent part of the speech was how Trump might unveil health care reforms that ensure patients have coverage for pre-existing conditions.
“The way she thinks about it is ‘freedom,’ an easier way for people to understand how they are being personally impacted,” said a member of her team, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions. “‘Freedom’ is an easier way to understand what it means for democracy to be under threat.”
Foreign policy is an arena where Harris may be closer to Biden. A senior White House official said there is not much daylight between them, with both agreeing on the importance of maintaining the network of overseas alliances whose value Trump questions.
However, a speech Harris gave four days after Biden dropped out of the race suggests a subtle difference in their approaches to the war in Gaza.
She repeated many of the arguments made by Biden: His support for Israel is unwavering, she said.
But a different point caught the attention of the Arab-American community. Harris said she would not “stay silent” about the suffering of Palestinian civilians. His boss, on the contrary, was the target of criticism from parts of the Democratic coalition for appearing accustomed to the deaths of civilians in Gaza.
“She showed something that the president has really struggled with — and that is empathy,” said Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, a foreign policy think tank. “The president has not really been able to sympathize with the Palestinians. And that’s something you can’t fake.”
On July 30, Harris arrived in Atlanta for a rally. Posing for photos offstage, she met Ruwa Romman, a representative from the Palestinian-American state of Georgia.
Romman asked Harris for a few minutes to speak directly and she agreed. Romman told Harris that the Israeli bombing of Gaza must stop.
“We don’t have a complete picture of where she stands on this issue,” Romman said in an interview. “I think it’s important to have someone who, at the very least, is willing to listen.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
