OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The mainstream media may be beginning to switch gears of the Democrat presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.
She has done her best to ignore the press, not give many interviews, hold no press conferences and be virtually inaccessible to reporters since being named the presidential nominee of her party.
She has given a whopping two interviews, one of which was a joint interview with her vice presidential pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and the other was with a local Philadelphia television network, since replacing President Joe Biden on the top of the Democrat ticket.
And now it appears that one mainstream news organization has had enough of her ducking the press.
“WHNPA President Jessica Koscielniak sent a letter to top members of the Vice President’s campaign on Aug. 28 with her concerns after she learned that “the four independent news photographer seats have been downgraded to one” on Air Force Two, Axios reported.
She suggested that the campaign of the vice president should add what is called a “chaser plane” or reorganizing who gets a seat on the plane.
“The current situation puts the still photographers at a distinct disadvantage on every trip,” veteran White House news photographer Doug Mills said when he spoke to Axios.
“It’s essential to us for people to understand the importance of having a full photographer pool. Every photographer sees each event differently,” the photographer said.
When speaking to Axios the WHNPA president said that they never heard from the Democrat nominee’s campaign after sending the letter
But Axios reported that it did get a response from the vice president’s team on Wednesday after requesting one.
It said that the vice president’s campaign informed them that they had “been in constant communication with the Chair of the White House Correspondents’ Association as the Office worked to explore solutions to increase press access.”
Her office said that they looked into the photographer’s concerns but they “learned both suggestions are not viable given available resources, including personnel and aircraft.”
“It’s very disappointing,” Mills said.
“This is the smallest number of media to travel for a presidential race in my memory. When Vice President Harris became the presidential nominee, it should have been negotiated by the WHCA that the full 13 member travel pool be on her plane,” he said.
But the vice president may have a good reason for avoiding the press and interviews. And the reason is she is not very good at them.
In a Friday interview with 6ABC Philadelphia’s Action News, Vice President Kamala Harris was asked by anchor Brian Taff about her plans to improve affordability for Americans, but her response veered off into a lengthy reflection on her middle-class upbringing and the significance of well-maintained lawns.
Instead of addressing specific policy details, Harris spoke about her childhood, highlighting her mother’s hard work and the aspirations of her community. She focused on the symbolic value of well-kept lawns rather than providing concrete strategies for making life more affordable for the vast majority of Americans who have been struggling under record inflation and sky-high interest rates throughout the Biden-Harris administration.
“I’ll start with this. I grew up a middle-class kid. My mother raised my sister and me. She worked very hard, she was able to finally save up enough money to buy our first house when I was a teenager. I grew up in a community of hardworking people, you know, construction workers and nurses and teachers,” Harris told the interviewer.
“I tried to explain to some people who may not have had the same experience, you know, a lot of people will relate to this. You know, I grew up in a neighborhood of folks who were very proud of their lawn, you know. And I was raised to believe and to know that all people deserve dignity. And that we as Americans have a beautiful character,” she rambled.