The vice-presidency: is Harris making a hash of it?
“It’s hard to screw up being vicepresident,” said Marc A. Thiessen in The Washington Post, but Kamala Harris seems to have managed it. After only ten months in office, she is the least popular inhabitant of the role at this point in more than 50 years. Her approval rating in a recent poll was just 27.8%. “Those are depths of unpopularity even Trump never plumbed.” A CNN report based on off-the-record interviews suggests this is causing ructions within the executive. West Wing aides are apparently in despair over her office’s “entrenched dysfunction and lack of focus”.
Harris’s camp, meanwhile, complain of a lack of support and say she has been “set up for failure”, assigned to manage Biden’s self-inflicted immigration crisis at the southern border.
Harris’s difficulties are partly a product of the role, said Mark Z. Barabak in the Boston Herald. “It remains a fact that the No. 2 job in the White House is inherently a diminishing one.” It requires the office holder to work behind the scenes and never overshadow the president. This has made it hard for Harris, who – as the first woman, first black person and first Asian American in the role – has faced “heightened expectations”, as well as plenty of prejudice. Her thin Washington résumé has also been a handicap. Typically, vice-presidents are seasoned lawmakers, but Harris has spent just four years in the Senate, compared with Biden’s 36. Although I can see why Biden picked her, the reality is that Harris just wasn’t experienced enough to take on such a high-profile role, said Kathleen Parker in The Washington Post. “In no other recent presidency has a vice-president been so ill-prepared for office – or because of Biden’s age, more in need of being ready.”
There’s still time to turn that around, said Lincoln Mitchell on CNN. The administration needs to bolster Harris and give her a chance to succeed. Rather than leaving her with a vague portfolio that includes tough issues such as border security, Biden should make her the face of the popular infrastructure bill. She could travel the country visiting new building projects, and explaining why they matter. With her impressive personal story and record as a prosecutor, Harris has great potential. “She may not be the perfect nominee if Biden isn’t up to running again in 2024, but the cost of replacing her is too high and it is still early enough to redefine her vice-presidential role.”