The Waves: Can Kamala Harris Turn Things Around? A Skeptic and an Optimist Debate

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News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2021

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate editor-at-large Noreen Malone and executive producer of Slate podcasts Alicia Montgomery talk about Vice President Kamala Harris. They unpack what she’s done (and hasn’t done) and how the White House may be using her as a shield for unpopular policies. Then they dig into whether it’s possible to turn Harris’ abysmal approval ratings around. In the Slate Plus “Is This Feminist?” segment, Noreen and Alicia discuss whether the move toward more casual clothing at work is feminist. Recommendations: Noreen: Happy Hour, by Marlowe Granados Alicia: HBO’s Succession and Insecure. Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Susan Matthews and June Thomas. Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey waves listeners, a quick note before we get to today's show. I know some of you might be
0:04.8	looking for coverage of Wednesday's Supreme Court arguments in the abortion case, Dobs
0:10.1	V. Jackson Women's Health Organization. This week's episode of the waves had already been taped
0:15.6	before that happened, but you should check out Saturday's Amicus podcast for an in-depth
0:21.2	discussion of that case. And we'll have lots more coverage of reproductive rights in the future.
0:26.8	If there's something you're particularly interested in hearing about, drop us a line at the waves at
0:32.3	slate.com. This is the waves. This is the waves. This is the waves. This is the waves.
0:46.4	Welcome to the waves. Slates podcast about gender, feminism, and playing devil's advocate in the
0:51.4	comular hair spate. Every episode you get a new pair of feminists to talk about the thing we can't
0:55.8	get off our minds. Today you've got me, Noreen Malone, an editor at large for slate. And me,
1:01.7	Alicia Montgomery, executive producer of slate podcasts. I'm excited because this week we're talking
1:07.5	about comular Harris's vice presidency. So a USA Today's Suffolk poll in early November showed that
1:13.7	she had an approval rating of just 28%, which for a little context is lower than even dick
1:19.8	chanies at his lowest, which is kind of crazy, right? She's only a year into her list. There's been no
1:25.6	rock war and she's lower than dick chanie. Harris hasn't actually been in the spotlight very much.
1:30.4	Let's see other crazy part about this. What is that all about? Is Harris getting thrown under the
1:35.1	bus by the Biden administration? Is it the media's fault? Is it plain old racism and sexism? Is it her
1:41.6	own fault? Does it have to do with the larger dynamics in the Democratic Party? A lot of questions
1:46.6	and we will dig in. Alicia, I will admit that one reason I'm interested in this subject is I
1:52.7	have always found comular Harris to be a lot more appealing than the average Democratic voter seems to.
1:57.9	But I'm sort of exactly in her demographic, right? I'm the professional woman. I enjoy seeing
2:03.6	ambition and other women. And also the other thing I like about her is that she's sort of a little
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