We can all see that the mainstream media is trying to reinvent Kamala Harris as the next Barack Obama. There are countless articles boasting about the enthusiasm she’s generated on the campaign trail and the money she’s raised.
But Harris is no Obama. I would argue that she’s this year’s version of John Kerry.
The 2004 presidential election was the first election that I ever paid close attention to as well as my introduction to political blogging, so I remember it well. Even though President George W. Bush achieved incredible popularity following the 9/11 terror attacks, that election ultimately came down to one state.
It was a close election that could have gone either way, but one issue that hurt Kerry perhaps more than any other was the accusations of flip-flopping and inconsistency. His infamous quote, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it," became a symbol of his wavering positions, and the Bush campaign made good use of it to undermine Kerry’s credibility.
Like Donald Trump, the left hated Bush and routinely compared him to Hitler. Yet Republicans used Kerry’s constant flip-flopping effectively against him to paint him as someone voters couldn't trust to make firm decisions — hardly a quality you wanted in a commander-in-chief.
Today, Harris is just as guilty as Kerry for flip-flopping on her positions as she attempts to make herself more palatable to the general electorate. And, like Kerry, her flip-flopping will undermine her credibility.
"In the roughly one week since Harris replaced President Biden as the probable Democratic nominee, her campaign has moved to distance her from a series of positions she took when she was a candidate in the 2020 presidential primary," observed The Hill.
She no longer supports a ban on fracking, a campaign official said, nor does she support expanding the Supreme Court. She no longer backs a single-payer health care system, after previously endorsing a “Medicare for All” proposal, the campaign official confirmed, or a government-run gun-buyback program.
Harris also supports additional border funding put forward by the Biden administration, a break from her 2020 primary stance that Immigration and Customs Enforcement should, at a minimum, be reformed.
“She’s going to say whatever she thinks will get her elected, but I don’t know how you trust anything someone says when they take 180-degree opposite positions depending on who they’re talking to,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told the outlet. “I just think she’s not a credible person.”
And that's hardly the only issue Kamala has flip-flopped on. She trying to leverage her record as a prosecutor to strengthen her campaign despite her rabidly pro-crime record, including supporting the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which bailed out violent criminals in 2020.
She can't excuse any of her positions as a legitimate evolution. She made her views known during her 2020 campaign. Everything from banning fracking, mandatory gun buybacks, defunding the police, bail reform, ending private health insurance, and reparations are all on record.
Related: Democrat Civil War Watch: Behind the Scenes, Dems Are Anxious About Kamala
Of course, the 2024 election is a very different one from 2004. Kerry's flip-flopping became a weakness when the nation needed a strong leader committed to winning the war on terror.
Kamala's problem in 2024 will be different. As she attempts to pivot toward the center, her previous positions will expose her as someone who will say anything to get elected. After Joe Biden campaigned as a moderate and decided to helm the most leftist administration in history, it seems unlikely that Democrats will so easily fool independents again.
