Posted
August 19, 2024 at 5:19 PM EDT
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Ahead of the start of the DNC, All Things Considered host Ailsa Chang spoke with Anita Dunn, a former advisor to President Joe Biden, in Chicago.
Dunn said Kamala Harris “needs to make it clear what the difference is” between her economic platform and Trump’s.
“She needs to convince voters that she is the right leader to move this economy forward in a way that grows the middle class,” she said.
Dunn was one of the architects of Biden’s 2020 and 2024 campaigns. She stepped down from her post as senior White House advisor earlier this month to join Future Forward, a political action committee behind the Harris campaign.
Here’s more of what she said:
On whether she regrets advising Biden to do an earlier-than-usual presidential debate:
You know, in campaigns, you make decisions based on the information you have at the time. And the reality is that, you know, we had the debate. It didn’t go well. The president felt that he could continue as a candidate. He made his strongest case for it and ultimately decided that it was in the best interests of his party and in the best interests of the nation to step aside and endorse Vice President Harris. And what I’m focused on, what he is focused on, I think what this party is focused on this week is electing her and making her case to the American public.
On whether President Biden’s early support for Harris hurts her chances of being seen as a “change” candidate:
It’s still a democratic process and people could have chosen others. But the reality is that there was no one who was as qualified — as ready to be president — as she was. It’s why [Biden] picked her in 2020 to be vice president, and it’s why he supported her in 2024. She is clearly going to go out and make her own case for her own candidacy, as we’ve seen in the last 29 days … So I don’t think anyone believes that she is simply running as his political heir.
On whether the Harris campaign has been too slow to outline specific policy proposals:
You know, she hasn’t had a lot of time to outline specifics. She became the candidate, she needed to lock down the nomination. She needed to pick a vice president. And she’s going into this convention. And that’s a very compressed campaign for something that normally rolls out over a number of months … I think you’ll hear more from her this week at the convention, and coming out of the convention you’ll hear still more.
How Dunn is feeling, upon switching gears from advising President Biden to now helping elect Harris:
I was there when the president made the decision to pick her for vice president, and have been part of an administration where she has been an excellent vice president and a great partner for him and a leader in her own right. So I’ve always been a Kamala Harris fan. And I think it’s exciting and energizing for this party. And, you know, we’re in Chicago and it feels like we’re about to make history again out here.
