The Kamala Harris question
It's that time.
The following exchange happened Wednesday night between CNN’s Anderson Cooper and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
COOPER: Is Vice President Kamala Harris the best running mate for this president?
PELOSI: He thinks so, and that’s what matters.
COOPER: Do you think so?
PELOSI: And by the way, she’s very politically astute. I don’t think people give her enough credit. She’s, of course, values-based, consistent with the president’s values and the rest.
And people don’t understand. She’s politically astute. Why would she be vice president if she were not? But when she was running for attorney general in California, she had 6% in the polls – 6% in the polls. And she politically, astutely made her case about why she would be good, did her politics, and became attorney general. So, people shouldn’t underestimate what Kamala Harris brings to the table.
COOPER: But do you think she is the best running mate though?
PELOSI: She’s the vice president of the United States. People say to me, “Well, why isn’t she doing this or that?” I say, “Because she’s the vice president.” That’s the job description. You don’t do that much. You know, you, you’re a source of strength, inspiration, intellectual resource, and the rest, and you– and I think she’s represented our country very well at home and abroad.
Which, if you are counting at home, is THREE times that Pelosi refused to say that the vice president is the best running mate for President Joe Biden in 2024.
Things like that do not happen by accident. Not with a politician as poised and practiced as Pelosi.
The incident comes at an unfortunate time for Harris, who finds herself caught in a maelstrom of speculation about her relative weaknesses vis a vis the 2024 race.
Josh Barro, writing this week in his Very Serious newsletter, made the case for replacing Harris on the ticket. Wrote Barro:
So Biden should run again, and picking a new running mate is the most obvious and impactful step he could take to assuage voters’ concerns about his age without getting off the ticket himself. He has the opportunity to pick a running mate who’s more appealing to voters than Kamala Harris, more credible as a next-generation leader of the Democratic Party than Kamala Harris, and more comforting to voters who consider the possibility that his running mate might succeed to the presidency than Kamala Harris. So why wouldn’t he do that?
The case against Harris, which Barro and others have made, boils down to this: She is simply not well liked by a majority of the country — which is a major problem when voters have big concerns about Biden’s age and who would replace him in office.
Which is, generally speaking, true!
According to the Real Clear Politics polling average, just 37% of the public views Harris favorably while 55% see her in an unfavorable light.
That’s only slightly more pessimistic than where 538 pegs Harris’ approval.
The point here is simple: People don’t like Harris.
Which leads to the next question: Why? Which is MUCH more difficult to answer.
Among the options:
Harris was burdened with a difficult set of issues as VP — including the border — making it difficult for her to be popular
Harris, as the first black and Indian American woman in the vice presidency, faces both gender and racial prejudices that a man in the same position would not
Harris is simply not that gifted as a politician, and has struggled to adapt to the challenges and scrutiny of the vice presidency.
To my mind, the right answer is a little bit of all three of those things. Harris did have a tough portfolio. There remains in some circles skepticism about the idea of a woman (and a black and Indian woman at that) as the second most powerful person in the country. And, as she demonstrated during her failed 2020 bid for president, she is not the most natural politician out there.
She is also in a position unique among our vice presidents historically. The man under whom she serves is 80 years old. Large majorities of voters have major doubts about both Biden’s age and his ability to do the job of president for another four years.
And Republicans are making an issue out of it.
“A vote for Joe Biden is a vote for Kamala Harris you know that and I know that,” former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said recently. “There is no way Joe Biden is going to finish his term. I think Kamala Harris is going to be the next president and that should send a chill up every American’s spine.”
So, Harris is not just being judged by the public as to how good a job she is doing as vice president. She also carries the additional burden of being judged on how she would be as president — if it came to that.
To me, the debate over Harris’ political skill (and her value to the ticket) is, well, moot.
First of all, I think we have a tendency to VASTLY overstate the impact a vice presidential nominee has on voters. People choose the top of the ticket, not the second in command. While Biden’s age complicates that equation somewhat, I still think the average voter will be choosing between Biden and Donald Trump — and Harris won’t really be on their minds.
Second, I see NO way that Biden tries to replace Harris on the ticket. Why? Because, per my point above, it likely won’t make any difference in terms of winning actual votes.
What it would do is drive a narrative of panic — that Biden doesn’t think he can win with Harris and feels the need to throw a Hail Mary pass to wind up back in the White House.
And that doesn’t even mention what it would look like — and how it would impact key Democratic constituencies — if Biden dropped the history-making Harris from the ticket. It might not lead to a full-scale rebellion but man oh man would there be some hurt feelings — and no obvious way to soothe them.
The honest truth is that every four years this story — we have to replace the VP!!! — flares up. Hell, there was reporting that suggested that Barack Obama seriously contemplated replacing Biden with Hillary Clinton on the 2012 ticket!
That talk may take on more urgency this time around because of a) Biden’s age and b) the existential threat that Democrats believe Donald Trump poses to the country.
But, in my mind, it’s just talk. It makes a fun column. And gives talking heads something to, well, talk about. And it even might make some political sense!
The thing is that the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. The message sent — to the party base and the broader public — of removing Harris from the ticket is an unadulterated bad one for Biden. It reeks of a lack of belief that he can win in the race as currently comprised and sends a message of weakness and chaos.
Like her or not, Harris is on the ticket to stay. Democrats need to make peace with that. ASAP.
Thank you, Chris! My sentiments exactly, especially the part about how dropping the VP is a story every time an incumbent President runs for re-election.
Aside from that, Vice-President Harris is extraordinarily competent, and fully-qualified to become President if called upon to do so. Keep in mind that Kamala Harris' career, up until 2017, was exclusively in the courtroom -- not in the legislature. She was San Francisco District Attorney and California Attorney General, where her competence and effectiveness were never in question.
Both the Senate and the White House are drastically different environments from the Courthouse, requiring her to gain an entirely new set of skills. There'is a learning curve here, and nowhere better to learn than inside the Biden administration. As others have pointed out, she now has the benefit of serious experience and a highly professional staff.
I for one am completely comfortable with the prospect of this extraordinarily capable woman becoming President. In fact, had Mr. Biden declined to run for re-election, I'd have voted for Ms. Harris without hesitation.
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I feel like this is a total non-issue that the MSM is using to fill out the news cycle. If Harris and Pelosi were men, I don't think the question would even have been asked.