Kamala Harris suggests racism, sexism are to blame for failures, 'The Five' discusses
‘The Five’ react to Harris' recent CBS interview on what is hindering her tenure.
Much like the famed Hippocratic Oath, the job of a vice president is "First, do no harm."
Ideally, a vice president should be supportive of her administration as a political goodwill ambassador that builds her party’s governing go right coalition. Unfortunately, for Kamala Harris, the Democrats, and the nation so far, Kamala Harris has been unsuited for the job and has endured many self-inflicted wounds en route to her historically low approval numbers.
Thomas Marshall, who may well be unknown to many, said of his vice presidency under Woodrow Wilson: "Being vice president is comparable to a man in a cataleptic fit; he cannot speak; he cannot move; he suffers no pain; he is perfectly conscious of all that goes on, but has no part in it."
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In the 24/7 internet/television age, however, such working anonymity no longer applies, let alone being a job just for men. For Kamala Harris, all of that is especially true. Beyond being the first woman vice president – let alone her ethnicity – Kamala Harris knew that by taking this job, she would be asked to do much more than every previous vice president because of the physical and mental condition of Joe Biden.
Harris jumped at the historic opportunity, but by any measure, it has been a dismal first year.
At the outset, it is easy and right to point to her historically low approval numbers. Her RealClearPolitics polling approval average is at 38.6%. Needless to say, even in this hyper-partisan, divided era, no vice president has ended their first year below 40%.
How she got there is also rather clear. Yes, it is true that President Biden's policies and polling have been poor as well. In plain truth, however, Harris has not done what it takes to rise above that.
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First, Harris has not worked hard enough. By the end of October, Harris had missed over 200 daily briefings based on her calendar published by the Los Angeles Times. Meanwhile, stories are rampant about how her staff-prepared briefing materials go unread by the vice president.
For someone who is new to Washington, D.C., and foreign policy, that lack of work ethic is not only self-inflicted but also a sure-fire path to problems such as the many gaffes Harris has made, internationally and at home. It also has meant she hasn’t performed well as the border czar if at all.
Harris’ off-the-cuff remarks have also been a problem for her and the country. For instance, publicly excoriating the president of Guatemala before you visit him and ask for his cooperation is not acceptable. Neither is earning this headline from the New York Post: "Kamala Harris says ‘democracy’ is biggest national security threat in CBS interview."
Will Kamala Harris find her way back? Only time will tell.
Second, much of the discussion about Kamala Harris in her first year has been about her tenuous relationship with President Biden. Biden and Harris had 38 events together in February and just seven in October. As they declined, stories circulated such as: "Kamala Harris sidelined amid growing tensions with Biden, insiders say." Obviously, that violates a core role of the vice president – to be supportive of the president, not a distraction.
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Third, despite her own self-interests, Harris has not made herself known as helping Democrats around the country. Politics is a game of addition. Those who want higher office need to broaden their appeal and gain allies along the way.
Yet, Harris recently said that she was "not going to absolve" Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., on the so-called "voting rights" bill.
History is not particularly familiar with a vice president who became president by arrogantly denouncing sitting U.S. senators – especially those who are currently aligned with the majority on issues such as the filibuster and runaway spending – not to mention the ill-conceived voting rights bill that would eliminate Arizona’s voter ID law, which likely would end Sinema’s career if she voted for it.
The good news for Kamala Harris after year one is that in politics, comebacks abound. Richard Nixon was written off in the early 1960s but became president in 1968 when the Vietnam War split the Democrat Party. Times looked bleak for Bill Clinton, but then he triangulated his way back.
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Will Kamala Harris find her way back? Only time will tell. On the other hand, the bad news is the talk of Democrats is not about her future but whether Hillary Clinton should be the next nominee.
That, too, is part of Kamala Harris’ unprecedented bad, self-inflicted first year and could not be worse news for her.
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