How does Harris plan to beat Trump?
A good two months ahead of the US presidential elections, European commentators are debating what candidate Kamala Harris stands for. At the close of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, she explained that she wanted to overcome the divisive conflicts of the past and to bolster the middle classes in particular. Harris called for a ceasefire in the Middle East and said that she would not pander to tyrants like Kim Jong-un.
She remains an enigma
Euphoria alone will not be enough to put Kamala Harris in the White House, writes a sceptical Irish Times:
“In political terms, Harris remains an enigma. Her presidential campaign in 2019, when she pivoted unconvincingly to the left to appeal to Democratic primary voters, means that questions remain about her political principles and skills. These have not been fully laid to rest by her success so far this year. Four weeks after President Joe Biden endorsed her candidacy, she has yet to sit down for a single media interview. If opinion polls are correct that strategy has been successful, but she will have to face that test at some point.”
Reshuffling the cards
Harris has boosted the Democrats' chances, news.bg states:
“While Joe Biden was trailing Donald Trump both nationwide and in the swing states that will decide the outcome of the presidential election, now there no longer seems to be a favourite. ... This will make the battle for these states all the more contentious. Harris is leading in Wisconsin and Michigan, while Trump is ahead in the other five – Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia. However, this advantage currently exists more on paper than in reality, because in none of these seven states is the distance between the two is greater than the statistical margin of error.”
Shocking populism
Price controls undermine the market economy, Gazeta Wyborcza warns:
“Average Americans blame the Biden government for inflation. Kamala Harris has a remedy: as part of her economic plan, she wants to introduce a federal ban on soaring food prices. ... This is shocking populism. The Democratic presidential candidate is demonising companies that operate along free-market principles, and proposing a reform that amounts to restricting companies' business activities by giving the government greater powers of control.”