CNN’s chief media analyst Brian Stelter suggested Saturday that optics are more important to the Harris campaign than her political message.
His remarks came in reaction to Kamala Harris’s first one-on-one interview Friday with Philadelphia’s Action News ABC 6, where she struggled to articulate her policy specifics that separate her from Joe Biden, who was forced out of the race by Democrats in July.
“The Source” host Kaitlan Collins asked, “Brian, what do you — what’s your sense of watching it, as someone who’s an observer?”
“I’m surprised she’s saying it out loud,” Stelter replied. “She’s so obviously, visually, not Joe Biden, right? She is the hope and change and youthful energy in this race.”
“And to me, the images are more important than anything she’s saying right now. When she keeps filling these rallies, that’s probably more important than what she says out loud at the rallies.”
Democrats in recent weeks have actually praised Harris for not holding interviews or press conferences, claiming that a “fractured media landscape” should spur the Harris campaign to only focus on TV ads and social media.
Even director Quentin Tarantino called for Harris to avoid any interviews, claiming that the election “is about f*cking winning,” an remark that suggests Democrat voters aren’t confident in her ability to effectively communicate her platform to the American people.