Kamala Harris out to convince doubters
Biden’s Vice President settling in after what many consider an uneven start
WASHINGTON – When a temporary cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war collapsed, Vice President Kamala Harris found herself in Dubai, pulling aside powerful Middle Eastern leaders.
Then she spoke. She emphasized the Biden administration’s staunch support for Israel’s right to defend itself after Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 rampage. But she also made clear Washington’s mood had shifted as the civilian death toll surged.
“Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating,” Harris said, raising her right index finger as she delivered the sternest U.S. warning yet to Israel about the Gaza offensive.
“As Israel defends itself,” she said, “it matters how.”
For more than a century, the cardinal rule for America’s vice presidents has been: Don’t get in front of the boss. Had Harris? No. This was the moment the White House united behind her and listened to her concerns as the war roiled the Democratic base.
Harris’ command of the room that day was a glimpse of the politician whose potential seemed unlimited just four years ago but whose image and presidential prospects have dimmed under the intense scrutiny that comes with the second-highest office in the land.
Her supporters chalk it up to sexism, racism and unfair media coverage. Her detractors point to her tendency to laugh through uncomfortable situations and sidestep direct questions with rambling answers. Others can’t seem to get a read on who she is.
But much of America seems to think that Harris has an uneven record and is not ready to claim the mantle of party leader. More worrisome is the criticism that she isn’t fit to take over if Joe Biden’s presidency takes an unexpected turn.
With the election 10 months away and the presidency on the line, the deciding factor might be whether voters think Harris could really do Biden’s job. Sending “Dubai Harris” to swing
states could be exactly what the ailing campaign needs.
A stage-managed ‘conversation’
At Harris’ October stop at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, sophomore Andrew Baxley, who chairs the school’s College Democrats of America chapter, asked about steps the administration is taking to secure reproductive rights. Low-hanging fruit.
Baxley wanted to ask Harris about knottier topics, such as Biden’s decision to allow construction to move ahead on a section of border wall. But that did not fly.
The White House advertised the campus appearances as moderated conversations; it didn’t disclose the extent to which the events were scripted. Students were asked to submit questions on abortion, gun violence, climate change, voting and LGBTQ rights. They held a Zoom prior and rehearsed.
Harris’ answer to Baxley’s softball drew applause. But Baxley was unsatisfied as he watched her handled, scripted and managed in ways that undercut her image as a leader. When he tried to ask his original question backstage, an aide shooed him along.
Baxley felt unable to walk away with a positive opinion of Harris.
“And I feel as though, had I been able to really have a more personal connection with her, and possibly speak more in depth with her, that could have been possible,” he said.
Harris was unavailable for an interview for this article. White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden views the vice president as a “critical partner” in the administration.
“The President deeply values her counsel, which he seeks often, and her leadership on a wide range of issues from reproductive freedom to artificial intelligence,” Bates said in a statement.
Authenticity behind closed doors
Riding an adrenaline high after three days of meetings with Asian-Pacific leaders, a more authentic version of Harris was on display at a November campaign reception in Piedmont, California.
In a room filled with dear friends and top donors, Harris’ comfort was palpable. Together they laughed. They clapped. Harris’ amiable husband, Doug Emhoff, introduced her.
Harris turned her gaze to a small group of reporters standing at the back of the room.
“When people want to talk about the polls, on and on about the polls, let me tell you: Everything we have accomplished is highly, highly popular with the American people,” she said.
Biden and Harris had been hit with a wave of negative surveys that showed them losing to Trump and saying that they were in trouble.
Adapting to second in command
Harris’ allies have been warning the White House about the severity of her image problems for years.
One part stems from having to play second fiddle. Harris was always top dog, forging her own path and making up her own mind as she became used to accumulating political firsts as a Black woman of South Asian descent.
Now she had to get in line with Biden’s agenda – to the right of her own campaign positions on many issues – a job requirement that has frequently made her remarks seem stilted.
The vice president’s political opponents, such as GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, have turned Harris’ failures into campaign attacks, deriding her more incoherent comments as word salad.
“The one thing I don’t think we can survive is a President Kamala Harris,” Haley told a Bluffton, South Carolina, crowd in late November.
Harris was not helped by White House assignments that were a poor fit for her skills. Especially egregious was the 2021 directive to solve mass migration at the southern border. Harris had little experience with Central America and would inevitably be compared to Biden, who played migration ‘bad cop’ for former President Barack Obama. The test led to a major setback.
The criticisms of Harris have lessened as the White House has gotten better at using her on issues that fire up progressives and on which she and Biden largely agree. Chief among them: abortion.
Harris was responsible for making reproductive rights a centerpiece of her and Biden’s midterm elections platform. In January, she will embark on a nationwide tour to promote the abortion rights message, starting in the battleground state of Wisconsin.
And Harris allies have pushed for her to make more public appearances in front of voting blocs that are prone to like her, in places like South Carolina.
VP role ‘sucks most of the time’
In early December, Beaufort County Democrats gathered for a gala on St. Helena Island. The speaker was Congressional Black Caucus chair emerita Joyce Beatty on behalf of the BidenHarris reelection campaign.
Beatty riffed about the duo’s record with gusto, pushing aside remarks that Biden’s aides had given her to read. The Ohio congresswoman said she had recently challenged one of Harris’ Democratic detractors to name the last 20 people who’d held her job.
Vice presidents run the risk of being too good and getting accused of trying to outshine their bosses, she explained. “The vice president’s job sucks most of the time,” Beatty told the crowd to laughter.
In South Carolina, Harris has fans who have staunchly stayed in her court.
Lynn Lotz, a Hilton Head Island resident, met Harris in 2019. She thought Harris “was given tasks that she should not have been given early on. … I don’t think she had the support behind her that she needed.”
John Glover, a retired IT manager from St. Helena Island, spent nearly five decades in Berkeley, California, where Harris grew up. His cellphone background is a photo of him with Harris. “I fell in love with her the first time I met her,” he said.
One of her most vocal defenders is South Carolina Democratic kingmaker Sen. James Clyburn.
He joined Harris in Columbia, the state capital, when she filed the paperwork for Biden to appear on the primary ballot.
Before a small group of supporters, Harris called the influential Democrat a friend. “It was South Carolina that created the path to the White House for Joe Biden and me,” she told them.
Clyburn and Harris were both members of the Congressional Black Caucus. He endorsed Biden for the presidency after Harris left the race.
“People walk around and find reasons to criticize, and then every time she has been called to step up to the plate, she’s hit a home run,” Clyburn said.
Harris lays groundwork for 2028
There’s likely another reason Harris has been paying more frequent visits to the state that will hold the first sanctioned Democratic presidential primary: It’s only natural that she’d want to deepen her relationships in the state with an eye toward a 2028 presidential bid, activists say.
“I think that she gets it. She knows that you have to be here in South Carolina the same way Vice President Biden got it,” said Christale Spain, who chairs the state’s Democratic Party.
The Rev. Isaac Holt Jr., who met both Harris and Biden in the last race, has a photo of himself with Biden on the wall. He said much of Harris’ political future, her ability to put together a winning coalition in 2028 to land the party’s nomination, will depend on the rest of Biden’s tenure.
Potential rivals, such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom, are already signaling they might challenge her. She must convince voters that she’s uniquely suited for the job.
Anne Moncure, 67, a retired health care facility administrator from Beaufort County who hoped Democrats would come up with an alternative to Biden this year, didn’t think Harris was up to the task of commander in chief. The vice presidency, she said, should be a mentorship.
“How is Biden preparing her for the role?” she asked.
Baxley, the college Democrat, said he’s leaning toward Newsom but hasn’t counted out Harris. But losing to any of the Republican candidates in this election could be a deal breaker.
“I’m looking for a strong Democratic candidate, and if she loses in 2024, that’s kind of my statement on President Harris,” Baxley said.
It’s a heavy burden for a vice president who would face more far-reaching political damage if the Biden-Harris ticket fails.
But as Harris herself has said, now is not the moment for that conversation.