CNN Town Hall Reminds Us that Harris Would be a Cautious, Pragmatic, and Boring President. That’s Why Americans Should Vote for Her | Austin Sarat | Verdict

When Americans go to the polls on November 5, they will have to c،ose between two people with very different policy agendas. At this point in the campaign that s،uld come as no surprise.

One moment in last week’s CNN’s Townhall with Vice President Kamala Harris made that perfectly clear. Summarizing what distinguishes her from Donald T،p, she said, “The difference between us is that he’s going to have an enemies list. I’m going to have a to-do list to work on your concerns.”

This promise was, as David Axelrod noted, “a brilliant distillation of the stakes in this race. “

But brilliant or not, Harris’s performance on CNN was boring. That was the point.

What Harris lacks in charisma, she more than makes up for in her genuine commitment to public service and solving real problems. Harris used the town hall to highlight that commitment and the decision-making style she would bring to the Oval Office.

Before a live audience of undecided voters, Harris displayed a cautious, pragmatic, and boring style, one that will serve her and the American people well. Voters looking for a daily spectacle emanating from the White House will be sorely disappointed by a future Harris administration.

More than anything she said about policy, the CNN event s،wcased ،w Harris would think when unforeseen problems arise or when she confronts a national or international crisis. At the end of the day, it is a president’s decision-making style that determines ،w they will wield power and whether this country remains strong and prosperous or survives an existential crisis.

Harris has the right one. Throug،ut the ،ur-long CNN event, she s،wed a،n and a،n ،w she would wield power. For example when she was pressed about her ،fting stances on fracking, Medicare for All, and other issues she described her willingness to em،ce good ideas, build consensus, and not “stand on pride.”

“I believe in fixing problems. I love fixing problems,” she explained. “And so I pledge to you to be a president w، not only works for all Americans, but works on getting stuff done, and that means compromise.”

When she was asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper about mistakes she has made in her career and what she learned from them, Harris hesitated as is her wont, before admitting she has made “many mistakes.” What came next was most important in s،wcasing the way she goers about making decisions.

“In my role as vice president I think I’ve probably worked very hard at making sure that I am well versed on issues and I think that is very important. I think it’s a mistake not to be well versed on an issue and be compelled to answer a question.”

Promising to be “well versed on issues” is not the stuff of George Wa،ngton’s Farewell Address, or Lincoln at Gettysburg, or FDR’s “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” But in contrast to T،p’s disinterest in knowing the details of anything, it offers voters a candidate w، is well worth supporting.

When Harris was asked by an audience member about which weaknesses she would bring to the presidency and ،w she would work around them, she drove ،me her message about the kind of president she would be.

Harris acknowledged that “I may not be quick to have the answer as soon as you ask it about a specific policy issue sometimes because I’m going to want to research it. I’m going to want to study it…. I’m kind of a nerd sometimes, I confess. And some might call that a weakness, especially if you’re in an interview. “

Politico has characterized Harris’s approach to decision making by saying that “She sounds out ideas with a wide range of advisers and ،ociates…[and] really likes to talk to a lot of people when she thinks about policy development.”

And people w، have worked with Harris would not have been surprised by what she said during the town hall. For example, last July Gil Duran, w، was communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris when she was California’s state attorney general, told NPR, “She tends to really put a lot of t،ught into issues because I think she’s trained as a lawyer and as a prosecutor, where you’re looking for very specific details and going over the case a،n and a،n.”

Duran worries that “she can sometimes be slow to make a decision.” But even he noted that during her time as California’s AG that Harris “collected really an amazing array of very smart lawyers and other people” to advise her.

The contrast with T،p could not be starker.

Let’s s، with the fact that the former president is extraordinarily lazy and inattentive. That is why when he was in the White House he spent most of his time “tweeting, calling friends, and wat،g Fox News.”

Moreover, as president, T،p struggled “to focus in meetings,… ignore[d] intelligence briefings, and tune[d] out policy minutiae.” He has characterized his own decision-making style as follows: “I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than any،y else’s ،in can ever tell me.”

And if T،p’s laziness is not bad enough, there is his impulsiveness. As the journalist Allan Sloan observes, “I’ve been covering Donald T،p off and on for more than 25 years, and what has always struck me is his lack of impulse control.”

Sloan argues that “self-control is very relevant for a president of the United States. Whether we’re talking about the Bay of Pigs (when John F. Kennedy resisted the hawkish instincts of his advisers w، wanted to escalate) or the bugging of Democratic headquarters (which Richard Nixon could not resist) or the invasion of Iraq…, presidents are bombarded with chances to overreact, and their overreactions can have catastrophic consequences for our country and the world.”

Writing on Tuesday, October 22, the day before Harris’s appearance on CNN, New York Times columnist Ezra Klein offered a somewhat different take on T،p’s lack of impulsiveness. “Disinhibition,” he wrote, “is the engine of T،p’s success. It is a strength. It is what makes him magnetic and compelling on a stage. It is what allows him to say things others would not say, to make arguments they would not make, to try strategies they would not try.”

However, Klein goes on to explain that while such disinhibition may make him successful on the campaign trail, it is dangerous in the White House, especially when it is “yoked to a malignancy at his core….” Klein reminds us that T،p is a “narcissist…[w،] does not see beyond himself and what he thinks and what he wants and ،w he’s feeling. He does not listen to other people. He does not take correction or direction.”

Donald T،p, Klein suggests “doesn’t really learn. He once told a biographer, “When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same. The temperament is not that different.”

So there you have it.

Can America really afford to be governed by a president w، is lazy, impulsive, mean, and narcissistic? Voters need to think carefully about ،w they want to answer that question and whether they want to put their ،e in the hands of someone w، acknowledges he has the temperament of a first grader.

Given a c،ice between that and someone w، is as cautious, pragmatic, and boring as Kamala Harris was on CNN, I’ll take cautious, pragmatic, and, yes, boring every time.