Harris Says 'Not a Thing Comes to Mind' That She'd Do Differently Than Biden
Vice President
Kamala Harris was asked by the co-hosts of The View on Tuesday whether she would have done anything differently than President Biden, responding "not a thing comes to mind," before coming back to the question and adding that she plans to appoint a
Republican to her Cabinet if she is elected in November.
"I'm going to have a Republican in my Cabinet," Harris said. "I feel burdened by letting pride get in the way of a good idea."
"You asked me what's the difference between
Joe Biden and me, well that will be one of the differences," she added.
The back-and-forth during Harris' first live interview of the campaign came hours after a new
New York Times/Siena poll found she was more likely than
Donald Trump to represent change. Recent reporting has also
suggested that she has been weighing whether to break with the president more forcefully on certain issues.
The Democratic candidate focused her discussion on The View about "common sense" policies and ensuring bipartisanship to accomplish her work, speaking to issues with FEMA and Medicare, as part of her ongoing media tour.
Co-host Sara Haines said on the show, after Harris had left, that as an independent voter, she appreciated "the common sense of it all."
"That's all we've been wanting to hear...I always struggled with the partisan politics," Haines said. "She's someone that has not only served in an administration that I find falls in line with a lot of what I believe but she's even taking different stances."
Haines said the addition of a Republican cabinet member recognizes that "we're all different, I just want to have a great idea."
"That's so refreshing to hear," she said.
Co-host Sunny Hostin added that the position makes her "very centrist."
"She is presidential," Hostin said.
Whoopi Goldberg said she had called previously for Harris to add more points of view to a prospective cabinet, rather than stocking it with Democratic loyalists.
"Everybody said it couldn't happen," Goldberg said. "Watch her."
This was not the first time Harris made remarks about staffing a politically mixed cabinet. In August, Harris committed to welcoming diverse points of view in an interview with
CNN.
"I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. I think it's important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences," Harris said. "And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican.
The idea of adding members of the opposing party to a presidential administration is not new. Former President
Barack Obama nominated several
Republicans to his cabinet, including Ray LaHood as transportation secretary and Robert Gates as defense secretary.
Former President Donald Trump kept Robert Work, a Democrat who was the deputy defense secretary under Obama, in his administration, though mostly jettisoned other Democratic voices from the White House.
The Vice President joined "The View" as her latest interview in an ongoing media blitz.
www.newsweek.com
@Supersav Both sides!!
