Kamala Harris, who has been in the race for president for nearly two months, finally put some “policies,” on her website. They are the perfect example of why she is such a terrible candidate.
Harris has not yet given a press release or conducted a solo press interview. Instead, she relies on her aides to pose as anonymous press sources to communicate her views to the public. The news media have, of course, endorsed this. But it was only a matter of time before she had to put anything on paper. Maybe the latest Times/Sienna survey showing her losing to Donald Trump straight up lit a fire underneath her campaign.
What do you get after nearly two months spent obfuscating, procrastinating, and avoiding? You get word salads such as the ones below.
Vice President Harris won’t hesitate to take any action necessary to protect U.S. interests and forces from Iran and terrorist groups backed by Iran. Vice President Harris is committed to Israel’s right of self-defense and will ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself. She and President Biden work to end the Gaza war so that Israel is safe, the hostages are released, and the suffering in Gaza ceases. The Palestinian people are also able to realize their rights to dignity, freedom, security, and self-determination. She and President Biden work around the clock to achieve a ceasefire and a deal for hostages.
As Vice President Harris, you have extensive experience in national security. From serving on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to pursuing transnational criminal groups as California’s Attorney-General, it is no surprise that more than 350 experts on foreign policy and national security issues have endorsed you.
You spotted a policy in the mush, didn’t you? She will “stand up to Israel’s right of self-defense” by “working towards ending the war in Gaza”, so that “the Palestinians can realize their rights to dignity, freedom, security and self-determination”. Never mind that Hamas being in power is the expression of Palestinian “self-determination,” there’s nothing written there that suggests any actual plan to accomplish anything. For nearly a full year, the Biden-Harris Administration has promised a ceasefire was just around the corner. But they continue to be snubbed by terrorists who are committing genocide.
Another example of her vapid policy pages.
She will instruct her Administration as President to take action against anti-competitive business practices that allow big corporations to raise prices and undermine competition, which allows businesses to flourish while maintaining low prices for consumers. She will also go after those who take advantage of an emergency to exploit consumers, by calling for a federal ban on corporate price-gouging in food and grocery stores. This will build upon the existing anti-price-gouging laws in 37 states.
She will fight Big Pharma, just as she did when she was Vice president, to reduce drug prices and cap insulin costs, not only for seniors but for all Americans. She’ll continue to fight for lower prescription drug prices by taking on the pharmacy middlemen who increase consumer prices and squeeze independent pharmacists’ profits.
She will crack down on “anti-competitive practice.” How will she do it? What are some examples of “price-gouging” that she can target? The margins for the grocery industry are among the lowest in the entire economy. Are there federal laws that already prohibit “price-gouging” by grocery stores or producers?
Harris will then “take on the middlemen in pharmacy.” How is she going to accomplish that? What is that? We don’t because she won’t tell us. Her entire platform for lowering costs is a collection of vague promises that are not linked to any concrete policy prescriptions.
Harris’s only contribution to Social Security was this.
Vice President Harris will defend Social Security and Medicare from Donald Trump’s extreme supporters. She will protect Social Security and Medicare by ensuring that millionaires and billionaires are paying their fair share of taxes. She will fight to make sure that Americans get the benefits they deserve.
To put things in context, it is a lie to say that Donald Trump wants Social Security cut or even reformed. Trump, on the other hand, has been criticized by the right for not wanting to fix the Social Security program before it falls off the fiscal cliff. Harris plans to raise taxes to save the program. That’s it. It doesn’t matter that there aren’t enough billionaires to steal wealth to save Social Security in the long run. It sounds good if you are extremely gullible.
How will Harris lower energy costs? By…bragging about the Inflation Reduction Act, perhaps?
Kamala Harris, as Attorney General, won settlements worth tens or hundreds of millions against Big Oil. She also held polluters responsible. She was Vice President when she broke the tie to pass the Inflation Reduction Act – the largest investment ever made in climate action. The historic work will lower household energy costs and create hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs. It will also build a thriving economy based on clean energy while increasing America’s energy independence and security. She will bring Americans together to fight the climate crisis by building on this historic work. She will advance environmental justice, protect public lands, increase resilience to climate catastrophes, decrease household energy costs, and create millions of jobs. She is determined to continue and build on the United States’ leadership in international climate policy, as the Vice President stated at the international climate summit, COP28. She and Governor Walz are committed to fighting for the right of all Americans to live in a world where they can breathe clean air, consume clean water, and be free of the pollution fueling the climate crisis.
Where are these “high-quality clean energy jobs” that she is talking about? The Inflation Reduction Act is a useless boondoggle. It has done nothing more than give the IRS money to waste and collect a fraction of it with new enforcement.
Harris’ platform states that she will unite the nation against climate change. This is the extent of Harris’ energy policy. Nothing in it will lower the cost of living for Americans. This is just high-minded nonsense.
You get the picture. Harris is not a “there-there” candidate. And if she has any policies, it’s just the same old garbage that Democrats have been pushing and doing for the past decade. Harris’ policies are not new, nor is there anything novel about them. Even if they were, she would have no way to put into practice what she promised. Harris is a hollow suit and no voter should fall prey to this gambit.
