I know it’s early in her campaign, but Kamala Harris will have to do a lot better – and I mean, a lot better – talking about economics than she has recently. According to this AP story, Harris has started to “craft her own narrative around the economy” by focusing on “ending child poverty, promoting labor unions, reducing the costs of health and child care and protecting ‘dignity”’ in retirement.” With the exception of the labor item, that doesn’t sound  like an economic agenda. It sounds more like a social-policies agenda. And it’s simply not going to cut it. 

Harris has got to talk about taxes, tariffs, trade, housing construction, small businesses, infrastructure projects, manufacturing, regulatory issues, and income disparities and good-paying jobs. And, yes, she has to confront inflation. The Republicans are going to pound into that issue – and she can’t hide from it. 

She has to understand that “it’s the economy, stupid,” not the social policies, stupid.

Btw – Harvard’s Michael Sandel says Harris needs to address the economic grievances of working-class voters, such as their concerns about immigration and inflation. I don’t like some of his “reimagining the economy” proposals, but he’s on the right track about focusing on key economic issues.