New York Times admits 'joy is not a strategy'

The New York Times has admitted that the messaging of "Joy" around Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign is not a "strategy" to win an election. NYT deputy opinion editor Patrick Healy penned the piece, titled "Joy is Not a Strategy" on Friday, taking a jab at the theme that has seemed to envelope all the political PR around the Harris-Walz ticket.  

According to Healy, "If the Democratic convention’s message for America had to fit on a bumper sticker, it would read, 'Harris is joy.'" He added that "the word has gone from being a nice descriptor of Democratic energy to being a rhetorical two-by-four thumped on voters’ heads." 

Throughout the DNC, speakers such as Bill Clinton made remarks saying that Harris would be "the president of joy" — to which Healy said he cringed. According to an NYT analysis of the term and other words used at the DNC, joy was used over 50 times by different speakers. 

Healy pointed out that for the Democrats, "'Joy' is the new 'fetch' from 'Mean Girls'" and the party is vying to make it catch on. Healy said that Americans don't want to be hit over the head repeatedly with the message of "joy," but they want her to "lower their household costs and make it easier to find housing," adding, "Being our joyful Momala is not going to win the election." 

Healy said that the race is far from over for Harris and that for her to compete with Trump, she has to be tested. "She hasn’t been tested — really tested — since Biden stepped aside. She hasn’t given a single interview or news conference to face hard questions. But it’s really the debates that will be her test. Her advisers think she might get away with doing just one against Trump. I think they underestimate her challenge in earning voters’ trust," Healy wrote.  

Harris has so far agreed to debate Trump twice and has yet to do an interview. She agreed to do one interview before the month of August was over, however, the days for that are running out.