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LETTER: Harris-Walz interview reveals nothing but predictability

First formal media interview unlikely to sway undecided voters south of the border, says writer
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To the Editor,

Candidates for political office everywhere are usually keen to give local or national media interviews, depending on the position they are competing for; to show themselves to potential voters, and answer questions regarding their political beliefs, ambitions, etc. Yet, for the past several weeks there has been endless discussions in media circles that the U.S. Democratic Party candidates for president, Kamala Harris, and vice-president, Tim Walz, have been avoiding direct questions that require spontaneous answers.

They chose to address their American election rallies with prepared scripts. In fact, from long before President Joe Biden quit his re-election campaign on July 21, Harris had not given a single press conference nor sit down interview, but all that changed with a meeting with CNN’s Dana Bash.

With the majority of American voters locked into their party of choice, there is a relatively small number of undecided voters willing to be swayed by what these candidates would say; but that was never mentioned in this much-ballyhooed interview taped at Kim’s Cafe in Savannah, Georgia, and broadcast a few hours later on Aug. 29.  

Both Harris and Walz have held prominent positions in American politics for many years, but the exaggerated media message was that they are unknown; all potential voters needed an introduction, as if they had just landed from an unknown planet somewhere in the Twilight Zone. So the 28-minute interview took place, and, despite all the hype, turned out to be rather predictable and mundane.

There were questions about flip-flops over fracking policies, the ongoing Gaza war, a few vague comments on inflation and the economy, then some warm and fuzzy recollections of moments from the recent Democratic National Convention regarding reactions of young family members. No indication yet of how the targeted undecided voters viewed this, but some may have remembered what famed humourist Will Rogers supposedly said over 100 years ago: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

Bernie Smith,

Parksville