Today is Thursday, August 29, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, finally sat down one-to-one with CNN’s Dana Bash to explain her positions on certain issues in her campaign that might have puzzled some voters. In the CNN exclusive interview, Harris also said she would name a Republican to serve in a CNN article by Kevin Liptak entitled “Harris explains in exclusive CNN interview why she’s shifted her position on key issues since her first run for president.”

Even though Harris has changed some of her positions on certain issues like fracking and immigration, she reiterated to Bash that her values haven’t shifted – they’ve stayed the same, even though her perspective on some of the country’s most pressing matters have changed.

In the 50-minute interview in Savannah, Georgia, Harris tersely brushed off her opponent’s ridiculous comments about her discovering her racial identity as she runs against him in this consequential race, when he stated that she just “happened to turn Black.” She responded, “same old, tired playbook,” and immediately added, “Next question, please,” without engaging more in a reply to an “unserious” man’s insults.

Asked to describe her Day 1 objectives should she win, Harris did not list any specific steps, like signing executive actions or orders.

Instead, she reiterated her focus on strengthening the economy: “First and foremost, one of my highest priorities is to do what we can to support and strengthen the middle class.”

As for her position on now not banning fracking, she said, “What I have seen is that we can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.” She also pointed to the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which provided record investments in combating climate change, as an example of her climate record.

To contrast her record with that of her opponent’s, she pointed to her record as California attorney general, when she prosecuted gangs accused of cross-border trafficking, as an indication of her values on immigration. Her opponent has been convicted on 34 felony charges.

Harris pointed to her 17 visits to Georgia since becoming vice president, as she confided to Bash her extensive traveling experience in which she stated, “I believe it is important to build consensus, and it is important to find a common place of understanding of where we can actually solve problems.”

For the first time, Harris described the phone call she received from President Joe Biden in which he informed her he was planning to abandon his bid for a second term after his disastrous debate performance on June 27. She said she was with her family making pancakes and bacon for her nieces and was about to sit down to do a puzzle when she got the call from Biden. She confided in Bash that she was more concerned with the president, not being endorsed by him for president. She inquired of Biden, “Are you sure” you’re going to drop out of the race? We all know the answer to that one.

Speaking alongside Harris, the Minnesota governor said he was enthusiastic about “the idea of inspiring America to what can be.” Walz also defended himself against accusations he’s shaded the truth in various aspects of his resume and background, including his military service and in describing his family’s fertility struggles, saying he might have been imprecise in his language and “I certainly own my mistakes when I make them.” He also said something about not doing what is grammatically correct sometimes.

Walz did push back against repugnican attacks he said were directed toward his family. “If it’s not this, it’s an attack on my children for showing love for me, or it’s an attack on my dog. I’m not going to do that,” he said.

The former football coach and social studies teacher was obviously referring to the viral images of his son Gus’s sobbing when he was delivering his acceptance speech at the DNC and his reference to using in-vitro fertilization (IVF) for secondary infertility issues. He addressed the first misspoken comment about serving “in war” as a National Guard service member, but was never deployed in combat.

As for the economy, Harris laid out a plan earlier this month focused on bringing down costs on food, housing, and childcare, in part by going harder after corporations. Her proposals included efforts to combat price gouging and ramping up construction of affordable housing. This issue is considered a weakness for Democrats in that an inexplicable number of voters trust Dump to handle the economy better than Harris and to tame inflation better than her. Ugh! What nonsense. How could this candidate for office be considered better for the economy? It’s like everyone has forgotten his disastrous mismanagement of the pandemic that lost millions of jobs.

In the interview, Harris reminded viewers about this horrible record of her opponent’s who mishandled the economy when he was president. Harris said “we had to recover as an economy, and we have done that,” indicating that inflation has been reined in by the Biden administration. She pointed to the administration’s role in cutting costs for prescription drugs and cutting taxes for families.

Embracing her vow to act as a president for “all Americans,” not like her opponent, who is only embracing a small segment of Americans who share his extremist views on everything, Harris said she would appoint a Republican to her cabinet if elected, though she did not have a particular name in mind. In defense of her not revealing anyone as of yet, she said, “I’ve got 68 days to go with this election, so I’m not putting the cart before the horse.” She added, “But I would, I think, I think it’s really important. I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.”

Though she hasn’t really discussed the groundbreaking historical parameters of her candidacy, as the first woman and person of color to finally break the “glass ceiling,” she acknowledged there were moments she felt the weight of history – including upon seeing a photograph of one of her grandnieces that has gone viral where she is standing with her hair in two braids staring on as she delivered her address at last week’s Democratic convention.

Her final comments about running were these, “I am running because I believe that I am the best person to do this job at this moment for all Americans, regardless of race or gender.” Has her rotund opponent ever approached the real reason why he is running once more so eloquently like Harris here? “But I did see that photograph, and I was deeply touched by it,” she concluded upon seeing the photo of her grandniece looking on at her visage at the podium delivering her electrifying speech to the nation.

I think the choice is clear this coming Election Day as to whom we must vote for! Don’t you?

Stay safe and be well.