The Kamala Harris Problem - Few people seem to think she’s ready to be president. Why?
The Kamala Harris Problem - Few people seem to think she’s ready to be president. Why?
www.theatlantic.com
The Kamala Harris Problem
93 comments
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Because she isn't? Sure she's better than any of the Republicans, but that's a stupid low bar and doesn't really tell you much. Her record in California is abysmal, she had zero support in her campaign, and she's done fuck all since she became VP. She's essentially a glorified security barrier to stand between the nuclear codes and whatever asshat the Republicans end up shoving in as Speaker in the event that Biden goes the way of all flesh during his term.
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Agree, but dammit all if I didn't come here to just dap you for the final turn of phrase. Haven't heard that in ages, well done.
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The last time I heard that phrase was the Gojira song from years ago
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She’s essentially a glorified security barrier to stand between the nuclear codes and whatever asshat the Republicans end up shoving in as Speaker
To be fair, that's pretty much all the VP really does. Pretty much the only point of having a VP is to have someone ready in case the President mysteriously drops dead or something. They could eliminate the entire position tomorrow and it wouldn't change a thing.
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They also break ties in the senate. And Harris is tied for the most tie breaks.
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Yes that's their only real official job but quite a few have projects they work on. Things they are passionate about. Things they push for.
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I think the main issue here has nothing to do with Harris , it's all about Biden and his age. When Obama tapped Biden to be his VP, he did it partially to counteract the idea that Obama was too young and inexperienced for the job. So we got to hear about Biden's leadership qualities right away, as well as his influence on decisions. Obama was essentially borrowing Biden's experience, he gained directly from having Biden involved.
The Biden/Harris dynamic is different, because Biden is so old, he needs to continually prove that he had the stamina to govern, wholly, on his own. Pushing off any significant part of his agenda to Harris might start talk that his facilities are slipping.
This upcoming election is sure to be Biden's last time in front of voters, though. If he wins, he is safe to spend the next 4 years burnishing Harris' credentials for 2028, because at that point it doesn't matter anymore.
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That's a nice sugarcoating of the Obama/Biden situation, but the reality was that Biden the old white man was chosen in an attempt to calm down racists over a young black man president.
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that'd be one cynical way of interpreting it. Another less condescending take, and I think more based in reality, was that Obama was a senator for a brief time before elevation to the white house. He needed someone experienced in both getting legislation passed and handling all the interpersonal relationships a president must forge - and they got the ideal guy, Joe "I've lived on cap hill for 20 fucking years" Biden. Joe understood the people and the legislative machinery in a way that a jr senator simply had little experience with. Together they made a pretty groovy combo.
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Obama won twice so despite some racists not liking it, the nation as a whole chose him as the best candidate. It can happen again but I doubt that candidate is Harris.
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that'd be one cynical way of interpreting it. Another less condescending take, and I think more based in reality, was that Obama was a senator for a brief time before elevation to the white house. He needed someone experienced in both getting legislation passed and handling all the interpersonal relationships a president must forge - and they got the ideal guy, Joe "I've lived on cap hill for 20 fucking years" Biden. Joe understood the people and the legislative machinery in a way that a jr senator simply had little experience with. Together they made a pretty groovy combo.
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I'm biased in that I didn't think she was ready to be Vice President.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article233375207.html
But her issues now appear to be that she's not liked even (especially?) among her own staff.
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But her issues now appear to be that she’s not liked even (especially?) among her own staff.
That's been her issue for years. She was wildly unpopular in the primaries last time. God help us if she ever gets the nomination for President, because I truly believe she is un-electable nationally.
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Ah boo, I really wanted her to do well. And do good.
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Yeah, we don't need a female democratic Trump, thanks.
She sounds like she should just join the maga choir. Get away from the white house, please, vp Harris. Or just become a decent, competent human.
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Typical Dem - bad at politics, abysmal messaging, just there to say “oops the repugs did it again, darn if only we could have raised more money and done something to stop them!”
To Harris’ credit she has attempted to fight for women’s healthcare access, women’s inclusion in STEM, etc…she just sucks at telling anyone about it. And the rumors about how she treats her staff are super cringe if true.
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It's the perpetual double standard. Qualifications are important. So let's talk about Trump and George W Bush. How were they in any way shape or form qualified? Bush didn't even finish his national guard service. Trump doesn't understand why soldiers die for their country. Both of those twats shouldn't 'qualify' for president.
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That’s part of what is so frustrating about Harris - she is qualified, but doesn’t make her case. Trump will straight up tell MAGA that only he can protect them from the deep state transing their kids, and they lap it right up.
It’s just bizarre how bad Dems are at messaging…maybe they suffer from being in the Washington bubble and constantly being reassured they’re the greatest ever, I don’t know. This consistently hamstrings their party by failing to lead, and instead settling for “at least we’re not them.” Newsflash ya idgits - we’re all Americans.
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Don't compare spam with shit and tell me I should be happy to eat spam.
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She was super vocal during the 2020 campaign but once elected she went silent. What the hell happened?
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She just seems like an awful person who has all the charisma of Hilary Clinton. Her poll numbers dropped the more people heard her speak in the primary for a reason. She had that one early moment she called Biden racist and it got her the VP slot.
She has no business being a prominent politician. She's unlikable, and has no platform or track record. Hopefully Biden survives his second term and she disappears into the shadows after she gets some of the lowest primary turn out you've ever seen for a VP in the next primary.
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Man, even Hilary has more charisma than Kamala
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Politics is full of awful people. JFC look at Trump, look at the entire GOP - it's chuds like Jordan all the way down.
Comparing Harris to Hillary Clinton honestly only elevates her in the eyes of prog libs and true believer dems. but cute whiney pout you got going there. She had an excellent track record in California, let's talk about Trump's track record lol. Or GWB's service record.
JFC just say you don't like the lady because she's a woman and she's black, if you were honest with yourself instead of fabricating things to whine about I'd give you a modicum of respect. Your post reads like a best-of chuds post from the 2020 election.
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I haven't heard a single thing about her since she became VP. Has the news just been avoiding her? Has she done anything in the past three years?
I don't exactly avoid the news, but I know more about some congresspeople / governors / senators than I do about the sitting VP.
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Let me preface this by saying I'm not a fan of Harris. Despite this,
- she has been lobbying pretty hard for abortion rights.
- she has actually had some successes in addressing the deep causes of illegal immigration, despite the optics of the symptoms
- she did a good job pushing for voting rights, but was ultimately stymied by fucking Manchin and Sinema
But then again, as people have pointed out, the VP is just kind of sitting there as insurance. I'm so incredibly disappointed in the Dems inability to primary their candidates.
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When Obama was in power Biden just seemed to be the smiling old white uncle that had a couple funny cameos on TV, from my recollection.
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Is there any sense whatsoever of Harris having contributed meaningfully in internal deliberations of the executive branch? As VP, Biden played a reasonably active role in debates over, e.g., foreign policy (he was well known as one of the most outspoken doves on Iraq/Afghanistan issues). Even if he didn't always get his way (actually, he often didn't), he was there in the room. I don't get the sense that Harris is pulling her weight to the same extent.
Obama also carved out portfolios for Biden to handle, like overseeing the disbursal of stimulus funds; face it, giving out of goodies is probably the single thing politicians love best. What has Biden carved out for Harris? Solving the border problem---that sounds like he's screwing her over rather than helping groom her as a successor. Maybe she will next be tasked with resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict?
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Don't forget fixing voting rights and solving America's gun problem. Just a couple of easy wins to build her profile.
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What does VP Harris stand for? What does she value? I don't know much about her political philosophy. I'm not invested in her because I don't know her.
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I also ask, what has she accomplished? I honestly don't know, and it is part of the reason she's not my preferred Democrat.
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have you bothered to find out?
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I would recommend reading the article as it devotes a lot of text to discussing this.
One big takeaway is that Harris is uncomfortable with self promotion and more at ease doing the work behind the scenes. Hence her success as a DA, but then trouble standing out during her primary campaign and as VP.
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That means she's doing her job. The best VPs are the invisible ones .
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Harris probably thinks of herself as the loyal government servant who has always done what is asked of her. The problem is, much of what America does is unpopular with public and people want to find politicians to blame everything on.
I would bet her poll numbers would flip if she spent her VP career pissing off rightwing donors and going left of Biden on popular issues.
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Normally the vice president wouldn't get this kind of attention. She's getting this attention because Biden is so old, and he is standing again for election. Vice President is a bizarre non-job in the US system but also very important because of its potential.
Kamala Harris is being attacked because there is a serious chance she will be President.
On the one hand she is being attacked and undermined because she's a woman and she's black. But on the other hand it is an election and it's right to think about the vice president, and particularly one who may actually be President.
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...or is she simply hated because of her history as a prosecutor and the air of disingenuousness she gives off?
Tbf, I find something to hate about most US politicians, but I really don't like the idea of it being semi-planned to elect an old fart for a second term so he can die of old age and the appointed VP "inherits" the position.
...the US political system is so fucked up.
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Well she's not a decrepit old white man yet, that's why.
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Until scrolling past this post, and then scrolling back out of confusion, I had completely forgotten she even existed.
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It would help if she was a proponent of weed. Sounds like she needs to start toking, regardless, if her own staff hates her.
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If I remember correctly she does or did, just thinks other people should be jailed for it and don't think other people should be released from prison for it, and be used as cheap labour.
She a case of rules for thee not for me.
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She's not related to Trump? Cause it sounds like she's flying his flag on the left of the aisle
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I really hope Biden goes with a different VP pick this go around, maybe Buttigieg or someone more competent. I had hoped Harris was gone for good after the primaries, she’s just been a waste this whole time. Maybe it’s because of how important VPs have been the past few administrations, whereas traditionally it’s been a do-nothing position, Harris has sort of brought the position back to it’s normal role.
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I really hope Biden goes with a different VP pick this go around, maybe Buttigieg or someone more competent.
I very seriously doubt Biden is going to switch up VP picks. That's just dumping a truckload of fodder for the GOP to use against him.
Biden isn't going to lose any votes over keeping Harris. That would imply that Democrat voters are willing to say that they dislike Harris so much that they're willing to essentially vote for Trump in protest. But he could lose votes over whoever the next VP pick is, as the fact that he switched up VPs midstream is going to immediatly become a focal point of the campaign, regardless of who the new pick is.
I'm not a fan of Harris and she has the personality of sandpaper. But I think going in a different direction would be worse than keeping her around.
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She's the reason I wish Biden wouldn't run again. I think he can beat any Republican candidate, including Trump, but if he has any health issues I'm a lot less confident that Harris can win.
This is a popularity contest, candidates need some charisma and the common touch, she's lacking in these areas.
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Well, she's a transphobic cop and somehow has even less charisma than our shambling lich of a president
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She had done nothing of note and people hate her.
Please please please lose us another election by forcing a demographic down our throat, DNC. Please I'm begging you.
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Racism/misogyny
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What is misogyny and racism for $1000, Alex
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Because she's a female POC.
The VP works behind the scenes instead of being the focus of attention. So how does anybody know if she's ready without knowing the details of what she's been doing since 2020.
We can have Trump on the media to lie his ass off for an hour, but we have to clutch pearls about a Harris presidency?
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Agreed
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