With the 2024 presidential campaign season kicking into high gear this summer has come renewed scrutiny over Kamala Harris‘ role as vice president and what she’s done and hasn’t done. Has she been an effective leader, and would she be considered by a majority of voters to be a viable alternative to Joe Biden should he bow out?
These are all questions rank-and-file political observers, especially Democrat operatives, are asking themselves as Harris hits the stump on behalf of her boss to make the case for their reelection.
So far, the surveys say no, voters do not approve of Biden’s second in command, which is something that Harris herself has laughably tried to spin as a positive in recent weeks.
Perhaps the most pathetic (and yet predictable) spin of all, however, came Sunday during CNN’s “State of the Union” program, where former Biden-Harris 2020 campaign senior staffer and transition team member Ashley Allison inadvertently revealed the big problem with (and for) Harris going into 2024.
It all started when Republican strategist Alice Stewart pointed out that, while some of Harris’ defenders were trying to portray Harris as a victim of baseless attacks, Harris has actually earned the criticism:
“I think we need to be honest about the origin of this. Look, yes, the president is old, and Kamala Harris is the heir apparent, potentially, if he were to step aside. But look where this began. The vice president was given a very impressive portfolio to deal with the border crisis, as well as election reform. She failed on both counts. She has not done her job as vice president.”
This did not sit well with Allison, who hit back with right out of the gate with the fact that Harris is a woman and is black:
“Well, I will just say, I think that this is happening for a couple of reasons. Most people don’t know what vice presidents do. And now she is a historymaker. She is a woman. She is a black woman. And it’s the easy thing to do to say, she’s the attack dog, go after her. She was not put in charge of the border. She was put in charge of the root causes and going down to Central and South America to discuss what is happening.”