– This really illustrates the fine line that the Harris campaign is trying to balance on here, in the last days of this election campaign, says Andrew Kaczynski, CNN political journalist, about how The Israel-Palestine conflict affects the presidential election in USA towards election day on 5 November.
IN a feature on the channel he analyzes how the device behind The Democrats presidential candidate Kamala Harris steers two very different, targeted messages to different states and different voter groups in the race against Donald Trump.
Kaczynski is known for juxtaposing old and new video clips to show how politicians have changed their position or come up with contradictory statements.
In this case, we are talking about recent Facebook clips, where what is tailored to the state of Michigan stands in stark contrast to what the Harris campaign wants voters in Pennsylvania to see and hear.
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One message to Arabs, another to Jews
– What has happened in Gaza the last nine months are terrible. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent, Harris said in a short Facebook video directed at voters in Michigan, the state with the largest Arab population in the United States.
The message is different in the video that people in Pennsylvania, with many Jewish residents, get in their Facebook update:
– Let me be clear: I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure that Israel has the ability to defend itself. Because the Israeli people must never again experience the horror that the terrorist organization Hamas was behind on October 7, says Harris in that clip.
In the CNN feature, we see how the full version of this speech has been cut to speak directly to Jewish voters. In the part that has been cut away, Harris also talks about ending the suffering in Gaza and the total gives a far more balanced impression than the small extract that has been published targeting Pennsylvania.
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– Will lose voters to Trump
As the journalist Kaczynski points out, it is a delicate balancing act for Harris to talk about the Israel-Palestine conflict in the election campaign. Nor are Norwegian experts surprised that she speaks with two tongues.
– Harris is in an impossible situation. No matter what she says and does, she is in danger of losing large groups of voters. This is pure American domestic politics and is about securing voters. Her biggest problem is that the Democrats are completely divided on this issue. If she goes too far in, for example, criticizing Israel, large parts of the pro-Israeli part of the Democratic Party will go straight to Trump, says UiO professor Hilde Henriksen Waage to Dagsavisen.
They see Trump as a beacon in a Muslim, terrorist darkness and give almost blind support to Israel.
— Hilde Henriksen Waage, expert on the Middle East and American foreign policy
Waage has both the Middle East and American foreign policy as his areas of expertise, and points out that “mostly all American politicians show support for Israel”.
– The US will stand firm with Israel – that support is clearly the basis of all presidential administrations as long as it does not destroy the US’s own interests. An example of that is from 1991, when “Daddy Bush” (George W. Bush senior, journalist note) and Co. invited to a peace conference in Madrid and everyone except Israel would come. The USA could not accept, when the Cold War was over and they arranged the peace conference together with Russia, that Israel would boycott. Then the US stopped ten billion dollars in transfers to Israel and got its way. The lesson was that without the United States, Israel cannot live in the Middle East.
– However, we cannot know what either Harris or Trump would do in a similar situation, adds Waage.
Comment: Israel’s moral collapse
– Has a presidential election to win
Professor of political science and US expert, Hilmar Mjelde is also not surprised by how the Harris campaign spreads targeted messages.
– This is not the least bit strange. It is quite obvious that she must adapt the message to the audience she is speaking to. All candidates do it, regardless of the case. The Israel-Palestine issue is also incredibly complex. It is not surprising that Harris takes up different sides of it, depending on who she is talking to. She herself has a rather nuanced view of it, Mjelde believes, and states:
– Harris cannot have the same message for Arab-Americans in the swing state of Michigan as she has for the Jewish population in the swing state of Pennsylvania. She has a presidential election to win, Mjelde points out.
He explains in more detail how complex it is for the USA as a country to run an election campaign when aiming for the top position.
– The USA is a continental country with 335 million inhabitants. The 50 states are like mini countries with an enormously wide political and cultural diversity. Harris cannot have a “one size fits all” message.
– What do the two different video clips say about how much populism characterizes American presidential elections?
– Populism is a defining feature of American politics, and always has been. And populism is not just something negative, because it can bring politicians more in touch with what concerns ordinary people. If Harris had not adapted her message, she would have received criticism for not being responsive, Mjelde points out.
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Think it reduces Harris’ winning chances
Hilde Henriksen Waage believes that Harris also faces an even more impossible dilemma than his predecessors.
– Support for Israel has never had such a large pro-Palestinian opposition in the Democratic Party as now. That makes it impossible for Harris and undermines her chances of being elected.
– Why doesn’t Trump have the same problem among Republicans?
– It is not the few Jewish voters who overturn the load, but the large, evangelical Christian groups. And they see Trump as a beacon in a Muslim, terrorist darkness and give almost blind support to Israel, explains Waage.
Comment: Therefore, Kamala wins
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