For all of the media odes to Kamala Harris and her “joy,” the Friday edition of PBS News Hour may have been the most effusive. New York Times columnist David Brooks declared “it’s just who she is,” host Geoff Bennett mused about “attacks on her joyful warrior approach,” and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart claimed “she is the culture.”
Bennett began by reading from a recent Brooks column, “‘Right now, I'd say Kamala Harris is benefiting from the beginning of a cultural shift and is beginning to have the cultural winds at her back. Donald Trump is beginning to be slapped in the face by those winds.’ Tell me more.”
Brooks recalled his many travels, “And one thing I have noticed is people talking about negativity. They're just tired of the negativity of our public life.”
The man who gushed over Barack Obama’s pants continued, “And so people eventually get tired of all the negativity. And I think that cultural pivot is happening right now, at a time when Kamala Harris — and she's — not because she's reading it, it's just who she — is cheerful and joyful and let's not be negative all the time, and let's have a good time as a country. And so I think she's benefiting from the cultural pivot. Is it enough to hand her the White House? No, but it helps.”
Bennett then turned to Capehart and recalled, “Jonathan, that word joy, Kamala Harris, Vice President Harris, when she sat down with the three reporters from the National Association of Black Journalists today, one of them asked her about how she views attacks on her joyful warrior approach.”
That reporter later admitted he used the session to help Harris against GOP attacks, which is obviously not what his job is, but Bennett continued regardless, “And she defended it. And she said, people will try to sometimes use your best asset against you. What do you make of that and this notion that she's benefiting from a cultural wave?”
Capehart fawned, “It's not so much that she's riding — she's — like see this wave coming and she's riding. No, she is part of the culture. And that's why I think when she became the top of the ticket, everyone marveled at how quickly the light switch flipped. That can — and it happened so organically in a very dramatic fashion.”
Is that because Democrats were happy to have Harris or a sugar high from getting rid of Joe Biden? Capehart insisted it was the former, “That, to me, says you can't manufacture that. And she was able to do that because she is the culture. She is part of the culture. She's part of what's driving this culture that I think you said will slap Donald Trump in the face. It's slapping him in the face now, which is why I think he's so discombobulated.”
Capehart concluded by adding, “To your point about happy warrior, and David is right, this is the way the vice president has always been, which sort of reinforces what you're saying. It's not that she has met up with the culture. She, in her entire career, has been the happy warrior about helping people and leaving aside the negativity. It just happens to hit at the right person at the right time.”
Speaking of negativity, earlier in the segment, Capehart went negative by repeating ProPublica's fake news about pro-life laws killing women in Georgia.
Here is a transcript for the September 20 show:
PBS News Hour
9/20/2024
7:35 PM ET
GEOFF BENNETT: But you wrote: "Right now, I'd say Kamala Harris is benefiting from the beginning of a cultural shift and is beginning to have the cultural winds at her back. Donald Trump is beginning to be slapped in the face by those winds."
Tell me more.
DAVID BROOKS: That's such a good opening. You should do that every week.
You know, I have been traveling a lot. I have been in 13 or 14 states in the last two weeks, some red, like Nebraska and Kansas, some blue, like Colorado and New York and California. And one thing I have noticed is people talking about negativity. They're just tired of the negativity of our public life.
And there's this — periods where you go through periods of indignation, where people are really angry. But then they — you can only be angry for so long. And Donald Trump won because people were really “indignant.”
But my sense is that they have had enough of it. In the 1960s, in the early 1970s, there were 4,000 bombings on American college campuses. It was — “days of rage,” it was called. By 1974, they're into EST and crystal and New Age stuff.
And so people eventually get tired of all the negativity. And I think that cultural pivot is happening right now, at a time when Kamala Harris — and she's — not because she's reading it, it's just who she — is cheerful and joyful and let's not be negative all the time, and let's have a good time as a country.
And so I think she's benefiting from the cultural pivot. Is it enough to hand her the White House? No, but it helps.
BENNETT: Jonathan, that word joy, Kamala Harris, Vice President Harris, when she sat down with the three reporters from the National Association of Black Journalists today, one of them asked her about how she views attacks on her joyful warrior approach.
And she defended it. And she said, people will try to sometimes use your best asset against you. What do you make of that and this notion that she's benefiting from a cultural wave?
CAPEHART: I don't think she's benefiting from a cultural — yes, she is, and I read your column, David.
It's not so much that she's riding — she's — like see this wave coming and she's riding. No, she is part of the culture. And that's why I think when she became the top of the ticket, everyone marveled at how quickly the light switch flipped. That can — and it happened so organically in a very dramatic fashion.
That, to me, says you can't manufacture that. And she was able to do that because she is the culture. She is part of the culture. She's part of what's driving this culture that I think you said will slap Donald Trump in the face. It's slapping him in the face now, which is why I think he's so discombobulated.
He doesn't know how to deal with her. I think it's why the polls are, the momentum is moving in her direction. And to your point about happy warrior, and David is right, this is the way the vice president has always been, which sort of reinforces what you're saying. It's not that she has met up with the culture. She, in her entire career, has been the happy warrior about helping people and leaving aside the negativity.
It just happens to hit at the right person at the right time.
