CNN presidential historian Tim Naftali said on “CNN Newsroom” Friday that Vice President Kamala Harris, a potential 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, could be successful if she runs a “vibe” campaign.
“One of the interesting things I hear as I talk to Democrats about what the vice president thinks about certain things is they don't dwell on policy issues, they focus on character, they focus on the values that the vice president reiterated last night,” guest host Alex Marquardt said. “Is talking about 30,000 people, rather than detailing an agenda, an effective strategy?”
“It's worked in American history,” Naftali said. “Franklin Roosevelt ran on the New Deal platform. Of course, he was running against a sitting president during a time of economic collapse. But he never actually said what the New Deal was. In fact, his idea of what the New Deal should be in 1932 was very different by 1934 and '35. John F. Kennedy ran on a promise to get the country moving again. Now, how ambiguous is that? He ran on a stoke-the-tide campaign for much of 1960. Richard Nixon ran on Viet He promised to end the Nam War, but he didn't say how. He said he had a secret plan. He said again, as vague as possible, I'm not like the establishment, I'm not like Johnson. And then in 2008, Barack Obama promised change. Of course, he promised some policy changes, but he was basically saying, I'm tired of the Bush Administration, I'm tired of that war. So historically, campaigns that create atmosphere are very effective. Campaigns that don't really touch on policy are also effective. Of course, the challenge for VP Harris is that now she's actually in the administration.
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