President
Biden
had a cancerous lesion successfully removed
from his chest last month that was just
reported. At 80, questions continue about
his fitness to serve a second term.
Questions also abound concerning Harris’s
job performance and ability to lead the
country if Biden cannot. And they’re from
various corners of the political spectrum -
G.O.P., FOX News, and even Democrats. “She
had not risen to the challenge of proving
herself as a future leader of the party,
much less the country,” several Democrats
told The
New York Times.
Vice President Kamala Harris has
been in office since 2020. Harris struggles
to carve out a lane for herself, and she
feels the weight of being the first Black
and Asian American to be the nation’s V.P.
However, with an approval rating no higher
than 39 percent from multiple polls, can
Harris convince the American public for a
second term?
Can’t win for losing conundrum
Harris supporters contest that she
is set up to fail with unwinnable
assignments, like curbing the influx of
immigration from Central America and
expanding restrictive voting rights in
stronghold G.O.P. states. Republicans and
Democrats, however, are unhappy with
Harris’s job performance on immigration.
Republicans are having a field day
pointing to the unstoppable high volume of
migrant crossings and drug trafficking under
her watch. They assert that Harris’s
ineptitude as the Border Czar has aided and
abetted Mexican drug cartels - the Sinaloa
and the new generation Jalisco - in
intentionally contributing to the high
incidents of fentanyl deaths in the U.S.
As a thorny issue, Harris didn’t
help herself in a tense interview with
N.B.C.’s Lester Holt in June 2021 on the
topic. When queried why she had not visited
the US-Mexico border since taking office,
Harris retorted that her team did. Holt,
however, pressed her further on the issue.
“You haven’t been to the border,” Holt shot
back.
Republicans have made Harris the
face of Biden’s failed immigration policy to
win political ground in 2024. However,
Harris isn’t scoring high within her party,
either.
The Democratic party is holding out
in enthusiastically endorsing Harris for a
second term. Last month on Boston Public
Radio, Elizabeth Warren full-throatily
endorsed Biden. However, when it came to
Harris, she demurred, sending shockwaves
throughout the party and a signal to Kamala.
When asked why she was not endorsing Harris
now, Warren stated on B.P.R., “That wasn’t a
hard no, but it wasn’t a hard yes either.”
Harris is between a rock and a hard
place within her party. Harris stirred
debate, ire, and criticism in the
Progressive wing and with immigrant rights
groups when she emphatically told
Guatemalans “do not come” to the U.S.
because they will be turned away. Her
directive was seen as a betrayal to
immigrants seeking asylum, reactionary to
right-wing pressure, and tone-deaf to why
many flee their countries.
Harris blew up social media with
her remarks. Democratic Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lambasted Harris on
Twitter, stating, “It would be helpful if
the U.S. would finally acknowledge its
contributions to destabilization and regime
change in the region. Doing so can help us
change U.S. foreign policy, trade policy,
climate policy, & carceral border policy
to address causes of mass displacement &
migration.”
The politics of being the first
The
job
of the V.P. is to support the president.
Harris has to be politically adroit not to
outshine Biden nor to disappear in his
shadow. Striking the right balance is
difficult in this polarized era, especially
for a woman of color in power who identifies
as black. The “angry black” trope hovers
over all sisters of African descent. Harris
runs the risk of being too loud, too
forceful, not knowing her place, not staying
in her lane, and being arrogant, albeit she
is the V.P. Harris must walk a tightrope to
avoid this misogynoir trope when asserting
her power and authority. Also, she mustn’t
be a titular head for fear of being
perceived as unqualified or tokenized.
Research shows that Harris is one of the
most targeted politicians on the Internet,
and FOX News runs a constant thread of bogus
articles about her.
The
intersectionality
of her race and gender is weaponized to
discredit her ability. It’s unsurprising to
women and people of color that Harris,
appointed as the highest-profile point
person on immigration policy, that previous
administrations couldn’t resolve, is set up
for failure.
Harris’s blunders are magnified,
and her victories muted. “People need to cut
Kamala some slack… she’s got a tough job.
She’s not an eloquent speaker like Obama,
but she’s strong in her delivery,” Corinne
Copper, a white Southerner of Lewisville,
NC, told me. “Vice President Harris has cast
the tie-breaking vote 26 times in an evenly
split Senate. Her position may prove
essential with women’s reproductive freedom
under attack.”
Harris has
accomplished a lot since taking office.
Alongside Biden, Harris has helped America
get vaccinated and rebuild the economy due
to COVID. She led Congress to protect
voter’s rights by building a broad and
diverse coalition; to expand workers’
rights to organize and collectively
bargain; and to work on women’s issues of
reproductive justice since the overturn of
Roe v Wade, maternal health and child
poverty.
In 2024, Harris will have my vote
again.
