On Friday's “PBS NewsHour,” The Washington Post MSNBC deputy managing editor and moderator Jonathan Capehart said Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, didn't offer many policy details during the week's debate, but said that was a “shortcoming of recent debates,” and that in 2016, “Hillary Clinton was criticized by many for having too many programs and policies.” He also said Harris went into detail about the opportunity economy during the campaign.
“I think the question is whether she did a good job in the debate of answering the questions voters had about her as a leader and her policies,” co-host Amna Nawaz asked.
Capehart responded: “Honestly, yes and no.” [O]On the one hand, she answered people's questions, because Donald Trump and the Republican Party spent a lot of time trying to undermine her by questioning her intelligence, her abilities, her record, and downplaying the fact that she ran for president. [elected] “She's been in office, throughout the city of San Francisco, throughout California, as state attorney general and senator, and nationally as vice president. And she's come on stage, as we say, she's come on, she's got presence, she can handle a debate, she can handle the guy across from her, she can run a country.”
He continued, “I think the flaw with the recent debates is that anyone who was expecting a deep dive into policy in this debate had the wrong expectations. In 2016, Hillary Clinton was criticized by a lot of people for having too many plans and too many policies. And now people are criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris for not having enough plans. But if you look at her rallies, as I've seen, I've seen both of their rallies, I know she mentioned the opportunity economy in the debates. And some people will say she didn't say what that was. She's been talking about it on the campaign trail for weeks now.”
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