Niko Stenvall
In her 2020 campaign, Kamala Harris, who has strayed in one direction or another, seems to be aimless again, writes Iltalehti’s foreign correspondent Niko Stenvall.
Kamala Harris’s speech at the Democratic party meeting was once again lacking in concrete. AOP
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is driving herself into the same hole she did four years ago by saying a lot but saying nothing at the same time.
Harris delivered his much-anticipated speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on the night between Thursday and Friday.
On the spot, especially many young supporters certainly expected from Harris Finally a clear line on the issue of Gaza, which is important to the electorate.
In his speech, Harris announced his support for the hostage agreement and the ceasefire, but also stressed that he would defend Israel’s right to defend itself.
– President Biden and I are working to end this war so that Israel is safe, the hostages are freed, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination, Harris said.
The speech was a hand out to everyone and at the same time to no one.
At the time of the 2020 presidential election, Harris was even seen as possibly the next Democratic “superstar” since President Barack Obama.
Indeed, Harris started his campaign with a bang, raising $1.5 million for his cause in the first 24 hours. The amount was considered a great achievement at the time.
This year, Harris, who entered the race in the middle of the race, literally blew up the bank, when his campaign collected a historic 81 million dollars in the same period.
In 2020, however, Harris’s presidential aspirations ultimately failed due to the fact that at no point in the campaign did the voters get to know what issues Harris was really pushing for.
At that time, the fact that Harris changed his own slogan several times during his campaign also spoke volumes about the aimlessness. At the beginning of the campaign, Harris chose, based on opinion polls, that he spoke strongly “for the truth”.
However, the chosen direction did not produce results, and the procrastination eventually led to Harris’s opponents recalling the “spring of truth”, “summer at three o’clock in the morning” and “winter of justice” tied to different seasons in the final stages of the campaign with amusement.
Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign dried up due to indecisiveness. AOP
This year, Harris has selected a difficult group of voters to target. Right from the start, the campaign was aimed at wooing the opinionated youth, whose votes the Democrats had tried hard to get even when Joe Biden was a presidential candidate.
The beginning has been very successful measured by many metrics. The campaign’s own social media pages were branded in the colors of the artist Charlie XCX’s hit album, and the campaign was already characterized by some political commentators as a movement.
– At the moment, what boosts Harris’s campaign is his strength and weakness, i.e. the youth, also stated the docent of regional and cultural studies who visited Iltalehti’s USA studio. Outi Hakola.
A supporter wore a “Kamala on Brat” cap in Chicago. Harris’s campaign got a boost, especially among young people, after Charlie XCX, the artist who released this summer’s Brat hit record, expressed his support for it. EPA / AOP
However, in order to secure the votes of young voters, Harris must eventually push for issues that are important to a number of people, and for the youth who have a more black-and-white attitude to things, the half-hearted statements of the speech we have seen now are not enough.
The United States has a long history of supporting Israel, and reaching out to mainstream voters was certainly a good move tactically. For Harris, the issue is made difficult by the fact that the support he needs in the Libra states happens to be behind not only young people but also large Arab populations.
For example, in May, large university demonstrations in support of Palestine were organized in the archangel state of Michigan, home to the country’s second largest Arab population, according to the Arab American Institute.
Harris’ empty words were compounded by the fact that caucus organizers refused to allow a Palestinian-American speaker on stage.
“To start with Israel’s right to defend itself after 40,000 Palestinians have been murdered is completely deaf,” said the national president of the American Palestinian Community Network, commenting on the speech to the Reuters news agency. Hatem Abudayyeh.
So the direction of the campaign seems to be uncertain again. Now it remains to be seen whether Harris learned from the mistakes of his last campaign and whether he decides to say something really concrete when he finally steps in front of the media.
Or will the now-proven “trendy summer” be followed by one more season?
#Kamala #Harris #repeating #mistakes
