Harris on Policy Flips: I’m Looking for ‘Common Ground’, Don’t ‘Compromise’ ‘Values’ Seeking ‘Commonsense Solutions’

During an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” aired on Monday, 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris responded to criticism that she has changed her positions on things like fracking, immigration, and Medicare for All by stating that “I have been listening to folks and seeking what is possible in terms of common ground.” And “what the American people do want is that we have leaders who can build consensus, where we can figure out compromise and understand it’s not a bad thing, as long as you don’t compromise your values, to find commonsense solutions, and that has been my approach.”

“60 Minutes” Correspondent Bill Whitaker said, “Let me tell you what your critics and the columnists say, they say that the reason so many voters don’t know you is that you have changed your position on so many things. You were against fracking, now you’re for it. You supported looser immigration policies, now you’re tightening them up. You were for Medicare for All, now you’re not. So many of the people don’t truly know what you believe or what you stand for. And I know you’ve heard that.”

Harris responded, “In the last four years, I have been Vice President of the United States, and I have been traveling our country and I have been listening to folks and seeking what is possible in terms of common ground. I believe in building consensus. We are a diverse people, geographically, regionally, in terms of where we are in our backgrounds. And what the American people do want is that we have leaders who can build consensus, where we can figure out compromise and understand it’s not a bad thing, as long as you don’t compromise your values, to find commonsense solutions, and that has been my approach.”

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