CBS News v. FOX News: Kamala Harris, Pragmatic or 'Playing Politics'?

Background: 

    These articles discuss the shift in Kamala Harris' policy stances since her 2019 campaign. Some areas in which her policy stances have changed include fracking, healthcare, the size of the Supreme Court, taxes on tips, and border control. Most announcements about these policy stance changes have come from Harris campaign officials instead of from Harris herself. Additionally, some of these changes have not received any official announcement but are instead inferred by some of Harris' recent actions. 

CBS News:

• Harris had an extremely liberal voting record in the Senate when she campaigned in 2019 for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, making her candidacy a remote possibility. As the current Democratic presidential nominee, Harris is changing some of her controversial policy stances in an attempt to appeal to the independent voters. 
• Harris' 3.5 years as vice president have shaped her current policy positions and have allowed her to reconsider and revise her past stances.
•  Trump has shifted his policy stances on several issues throughout the years including abortion and mail-in-voting. 
• Harris' approach to shifting policy positions has been described as "pragmatic" by a campaign spokesperson. Harris campaign spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg stated, "As president, she will take that same pragmatic approach, focusing on common-sense solutions for the sake of progress."
• Policy Stance Changes:
• Healthcare
• Old Stance: During her 2019 campaign, it was unclear whether or not Harris would work to eliminate private health insurance. 
• She co-sponsored Bernie Sanders' "Medicare for All" bill which would have replaced private insurance with a single government-run insurer for all Americans.
• She released a health plan that would involve government-backed health insurance but would not completely eliminate private insurance
• New Stance: A Harris Campaign official has stated that, as president, Harris will not push for a government-run single-payer health insurance system. 
• Fracking
• Old Stance: During her 2019 campaign, Harris stated: "no question I'm in favor of banning fracking." 
• New Stance: The Harris campaign has been ambiguous about where Harris stands on fracking.
• Size of the Supreme Court
• Old Stance: During her 2019 campaign, Harris stated she was "interested in having that conversation" in regards to adding more justices to the Supreme Court.
• New Stance: A Harris campaign official has stated that Harris supports Biden's proposed Supreme Court reforms. These reforms do not include increasing the size of the court. 

FOX News:

• Harris could be "playing politics" by having unnamed officials announce her new policy stances rather than addressing these changes herself.
• A political strategist stated that despite the Harris campaign pushing a reworked agenda, "anonymous, on-background campaign staffers do not take public policy positions, candidates and elected officials do". Until Harris personally states otherwise, Americans should assume that Harris' previously stated policy positions continue to be her policy positions today.
• Harris advisors reported to Axios that "Harris doesn't want to be completely defined by the Biden-Harris record."
• The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's attempt to ask if Harris plans to personally announce her new policy stances.
• Policy Stance Changes:
• Fracking
• Old Stance: Harris said she would ban fracking during her 2019 campaign. She stated, "There's no question I'm in favor of banning fracking, I have a history of working on this issue". 
• Harris' past comments have been used by Republicans, including Trump, in campaign ads since Harris launched her 2024 campaign. 
• New Stance: Harris campaign officials have stated Harris will not ban fracking. 
• "Medicare for All"
• Old Stance: During her 2019 campaign Harris published a "Medicare for All" plan. She also, as Senator, cosponsored Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All Act of 2019.
• New Stance: A Harris campaign official stated that Harris will not push "Medicare for All" this cycle. 
• A republican strategist has expressed skepticism about the credibility of this policy stance change. 
• Taxes on Tips
• Old Stance: Under the current Biden-Harris administration tip money must be reported as income on taxpayers' tax returns. Additionally, Harris has supported measures that enable the IRS to track and tax workers' tips.
• New Stance: Harris has recently stated that she supports ending taxes on tips for service workers. 
• Trump had expressed this same idea earlier in the summer. 
• Border Control:
• Old Stance: Harris supported rolling back Trump's border policies. 
• Harris was criticized for stating "the border is secure" in 2022 despite a record number of migrants coming through.  
• New Stance: Border control is now a top priority for Harris. 
• A Harris campaign ad has stated "Fixing the border is tough, so is Kamala Harris".

Discussion: 

The CBS News article seemed to cast Harris' policy stance changes in a positive light. It brought up the idea that her new policies have been shaped by the experience she has gained as vice president. The mention of Trump also shifting his policy stances over time seems to be an attempt to ward off criticism from Republicans. This article puts a positive spin on Harris' policy changes by using them as proof of her pragmatic decision-making. 

The FOX News article was more critical of Harris' policy stance changes. The biggest issue this article seemed to have with the changes was that Harris herself did not announce many of them. The article was very skeptical about accepting any of these changes as fact until Harris personally announces them. The mention of Trump having expressed the idea to end taxes on tips for service workers before Harris seems to suggest she may have gotten this idea from him.

These two articles were very interesting to me. I think that the policy changes mentioned in these articles will benefit Harris when it comes to winning the vote of independent or undecided voters. While I don't personally see much of a problem with Harris changing her stance on certain policies, I am curious as to why she hasn't addressed these changes herself. My guess is that she is finalizing her positions on a number of policies and wants to announce any changes all at once. 

What do you think about Harris' policy changes? Are you curious as to why she hasn't announced them personally? Is it necessary for a political candidate to make personal announcements, or is it acceptable for campaign officials to make announcements on a candidate's behalf?

    

Sources:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/harris-dodging-flip-flop-attacks-faceless-surrogates-flip-key-positions-playing-politics

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kamala-harris-policy-positions-president-2024/