As we previously reported, last week – just a few months after media outlets were declaring that Kamala Harris had finally “found her footing” after barely treading above water since the start of her vice presidency – we learned that the uncomfortable second-guessing among Democrats about Harris had cranked up again.
In addition to describing her tenure so far as “underwhelming,” the Washington Post last Monday quoted Democrat leaders from what they described as “key states” who questioned the veep’s “basic political skills on the national stage.”
“In 2016, she won her Senate seat against weak opposition, they say,” the paper also noted. “In 2019, her presidential run ended before a single ballot was cast, doomed by an uneven performance on the campaign trail, weak support, faltering resources and turmoil among her advisers.”
As we all know, that turmoil carried over into her vice presidency after a wave of resignations among top staffers had people questioning whether such things were “normal” in Washington, D.C. or indicative of a problem with Harris specifically – the latter of which, it turned out, was almost certainly the case.
And now one week to the day after the surprising WaPo hit piece against Harris, the New York Times has gotten in on the action as well, reporting on how even Harris’ allies are said to be “tired of waiting” for her “to carve out a lane for herself” ahead of a potential 2024 run in the event Joe Biden steps aside:
But the painful reality for Ms. Harris is that in private conversations over the last few months, dozens of Democrats in the White House, on Capitol Hill and around the nation — including some who helped put her on the party’s 2020 ticket — said she had not risen to the challenge of proving herself as a future leader of the party, much less the country. Even some Democrats whom her own advisers referred reporters to for supportive quotes confided privately that they had lost hope in her.
Through much of the fall, a quiet panic set in among key Democrats about what would happen if President Biden opted not to run for a second term. Most Democrats interviewed, who insisted on anonymity to avoid alienating the White House, said flatly that they did not think Ms. Harris could win the presidency in 2024. Some said the party’s biggest challenge would be finding a way to sideline her without inflaming key Democratic constituencies that would take offense.
Further, the Times wrote about how – now that it appears Biden will indeed run for a second term after all – the growing concern is that Harris will be a “liability” for him down the home stretch. And behind the scenes, twice-failed Democratic candidate for president Hillary Clinton has allegedly expressed her disappointment with what she believed was Harris’ inability to “clear a primary field,” a charge that a Clinton spox denied:
Members of Congress, Democratic strategists and other major party figures all said she had not made herself into a formidable leader. Two Democrats recalled private conversations in which former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lamented that Ms. Harris could not win because she does not have the political instincts to clear a primary field. Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, said she was strongly supportive of Ms. Harris and often spoke with her about shared experiences of being “a woman in power.” He added: “They have built and maintained a strong bond. Any other characterization is patently false.”
Though the Times was quick to throw around familiar buzzwords like “double standards” and “woman of color” in an attempt to explain in part why Harris has faced so many issues in her first two years, the bottom line is that Harris is her own worst enemy, as we’ve documented here on numerous occasions.
To reiterate a point I’ve previously made, this is what happens when one’s career starts off the way Harris’ did. You begin to expect to be given preferential treatment as you climb the ladder and treated to fawning interviews in the press because of “who you are” and what you supposedly represent from a “historical” perspective.
As it turns out, being the “first” whatever really doesn’t amount to a hill of beans to the average person, especially if you keep demonstrating that not only are you really, really bad at what you do (which Harris often does) but also that you’re about as genuine as a $3 bill. The vast majority of Harris’s problems are self-inflicted, something other Democrats apparently realize as well considering the renewed debate about whether or not she’s got what it takes to go the distance in a future presidential campaign.