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Monday, July 29, 2019

The non-serious "serious" candidate

My theory as to why Kamala is dropping all of these obviously bad policy proposals this week is that she's not actually serious about them.  You could say this for any candidate's "plans," really.   Electing a person President doesn't automatically enact that person's campaign platform into law.  Most people understand this. (Ok, maybe not every people.. ahem.. Warren voters.. but most people.) 

What the policy pages on a candidate's website are supposed to do, however, is communicate something about the campaign's values.  Sure, some of it can actually be earnest thoughts on the governing agenda. But that's a secondary purpose at best. These are campaign websites. Everything that appears on them should be considered a campaign ad.  The policy sesctions say, "Here are the things this campaign believes in."  Or, at least, these are the things we would like to be perceived as believing in at the moment.  Of course all of that demands further interpretation and context but that's not important right now. Suffice to say these proposals are political messages that may or may not have anything to do with actual policy down the road.

It's quite possible Kamala Harris really is okay with these untennable, unhelpful, plans to not really forgive anyone's student loans and boost the privatized section of Medicare.  But the only reason to publicize these bad ideas during a campaign is to show right wing voters and/or Democrats who believe the only way to win an election is by making right wing voters happy that you are someone they should take seriously. 

Right now those people take Joe Biden seriously.  Harris's strategy is to be the next choice once Joe Biden drops out, which is still what most people expect to happen even if they arent' saying it out loud.

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