For the country’s sake, Vice President Harris should step aside
The Democratic Party’s indulgence of identity politics has proved successful in building a diverse organization, but its strategy of courting (and pandering to) minority voters is the road to ruin.
In 2020, Joe Biden’s promiseto tap a womanas his vice president — along withRep. James E. Clyburn’selection-altering endorsement in South Carolina — paved Biden’s way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
His “history-making” selection of the telegenic Kamala D. Harris might prove to be his downfall in 2024 — and he has had enough fall-downs to make voters worry. Harris’s résumé was impressive. A former California attorney general and sitting U.S. senator, she seemed to have been created by Central Casting. Or was it artificial intelligence? As the first Black woman and the first woman of Asian descent to be nominated for vice president, she was a doubleheader.
But her evolving beliefs undercut that appeal. As a presidential candidate in 2020, she followed the Democratic playbook on issues, except when she raised her hand in support of eliminating private health insurance. She also managed to imply that Biden was racist and segregationist, citing his long-ago stance against student busing. In her famous debate rebuke of Biden, she said she had been one of the little Black girls on one of those buses.
Her touché was short-lived. Harris ended her campaign in December 2019, citing a lack of financial resources. Next thing we knew, she was moving into the Naval Observatory. She was a colossal failure as border czar, a position she held briefly, and otherwise seemed to have gone undercover.
Whatever the reasons, it has seemed that Harris’s role was to be quiet, lest she embarrass her boss with her sometimes inane, rambling remarks and a laugh that erupts from nowhere about nothing obvious to others. I do, however, relish the thought of her face-to-face with Vladimir Putin and suddenly cackling at a linchpin moment during nuclear arms discussions.
The Kamala conundrum comes down to this: She was picked because she was Black and female, a combo tantamount to job security. Now that she has become a burden to the Democratic ticket, Biden can’t fire her. He can’t risk alienating his base. Full stop. The seriousness of this situation can’t be overstated. Biden’s diminishing faculties, notwithstanding his relatively successful State of the Union address, and his increasing physical frailty are concerning.
Every honest person knows he’s not in top form. A recent New York
Times poll found that73 percent of registered votersbelieve Biden is too old to be the nation’s top executive. This includes 61 percent of those who voted for him in 2020.
At the start of Biden’s term, I was pulling for Harris to do well. She had pizzazz and a reputation for being a tough prosecutor. She had moxie and swagger, and she leaned centrist. There was reason for hope: Criticism from California progressives that she wasn’tadequately attunedto racial-justice issues and sided too often with prosecutors likely proved helpful when she was vetted for the VP spot.
Her performance as second in command has been disappointing, to say the least. Americans have taken note. Though Democrats unsurprisingly
like her more than Republicans do,a recent analysis by FiveThirtyEightset her average overall approval rating at just 37.2 percent, among the lowest recorded for a vice president.
There’s no reason to think her ranking would spike were she suddenly promoted to the Oval Office. Instead, most signs point to disaster. This is why I propose with all due respect that Harris step away from the ticket.
This is not a partisan suggestion. I said the same about Sarah Palin in 2008 when it became clear,as I wrote,that she was “out of her league.” No one would have blamed Palin for wanting to spend more time with her family, including a new baby, I said. I ended the column with these words, “Do it for your country.”
Harris could provide her own reasons for moving on. Perhaps she and
Biden could a cut a deal for her to become the next attorney general — if he’s reelected. Biden then could tap someone else with executive experience who could reassure voters that the next vice president would be ready to take the reins should events require it. Democrats and Republicans alike would be relieved.
Please, Madame Vice President, do it for your country.
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the trial balloons are being floated to save Biden with a VP who would actually help him.
Given the paramount importance and restrictive nature of Democrat's identity politics, I doubt this will work.
By posting a seed that indicates concern that in the event Biden becomes disabled or dies during a second term then there is a big problem if Harris steps up. Does that not mean you personally believe that Trump cannot possibly win the election?
I doubt it too. Harris is very close to the presidency. Why would she turn away? She would have to see what you see and if she could see it that way, she would obviously exhibit a much different persona. She wouldn't be a more capable person, just a more acceptable one. The democrats are not worried about the perception of their candidates. They are totally focused on the voting process. To them it is all about ballot harvesting and mailing out a Gazillion ballots.
This was a nice exercise in "what is good for the country." The reality is that those who control Biden also control Harris. It won't make any difference which one of them is president. The country will be subjected to the same radical policies that opened our borders, ruined the dollar and made the nation unsafe. There is nothing there that benefits America.
She will not.
You so strongly believe that the D party is bad for the nation (no matter who is elected) that you will vote GOP. Yet you are ignoring that the current GOP is NOT the GOP you have had your entire life. It is the GOP who nominates a scoundrel and it will grow worse if that scoundrel is elected and surrounds himself with sycophants.
Just imagine the motley crew of slimy opportunists who would sign into another Trump administration...
)))))SHUDDER(((((
I agree. The current GOP contains an inordinate number of the absolute worst politicians that I have seen in my life. It is amazing (and sickening) to see the GOP fall apart so quickly. And the agent of this unraveling would, if elected PotUS, be empowered to make it much worse (and would do so).
It will get worse before it can get better. Many of the dwindling Repubs in the House that actually want to govern have announced that they aren’t running this year. Those include committee chairs that took a long time to win.
I can’t remember a more dysfunctional House in my lifetime.
Who runs the party? Moderates? Look what they have done. Every bad thing in this country came from them.
If I were Biden I would have an official food taster anytime he has lunch with Harris
Call for Donald Trump to step down from the republican nomination and then we can talk. Until then your words are meaningless.
Imo we face a triple national dilemma in that not only do the Democrats need to dump Biden and Harris as ultimately bad for the country, the Republicans need to dump Trump as none deserve a second term in office. But sadly that will not happen as Trump has unfortunately already cinched the GOP nomination and Biden the Democratic one.
I think if Harris were to step aside (I do not see this happening) that this could be a very good move for the Ds. It all depends on the VP pick, but I would first turn to the D governors between 45 and 65 years of age.
Because of the politics of race, the Ds would probably need to have a VP who is not Caucasian (ridiculous but reality) and might even need to be female (again ridiculous, but reality). That limits the field and pretty much knocks out having a D governor as the VP.
My priority would be a competent individual of the right age who could step up to the plate as PotUS.
FDR made it work for him.
A Black, female Muslim would be perfect.
A Black, female Muslim would be perfect.
You forgot antisemite.
I thought that was implied by Black, Muslim.
To me, perfect is a competent, respected, notable individual who could assume the presidency.
Don't forget disabled and a lesbian
There is no objective reason to believe that Harris is not qualified or competent, what there is, is right wing and conservative propaganda that evidently a lot of people have swallowed.
Kamala bowing out may be best for the dem party, not so sure it would be best for the country.
Says who? MAGAs? Half-A-MAGAs? GTFOOH...
Voting strategies are interesting. Some people vote for who the believe will make the best president. Others vote Party regardless. More recently, some vote against someone by voting for their opponent. Others file a protest vote when the don’t like either of the main Party candidates.
I did that for the first time in 2016 when I voted for Gary Johnson. I didn’t like either of the main candidates, I was certain that Hillary would take VA regardless so I was one of the 3% that voted for Johnson. Had I expected the VA race to be very close, it would have been a harder decision.