A Look at Kamala's Track Record As VP: Numerous Assignments and Just As Many 'Incompletes'
As the Democrats “celebrate” the announcement that Joe Biden is stepping away from his reelection campaign, the need to put up the brave face that the default selection of Kamala Harris to take over the party ticket is a glorious moment. Just ignore that the party claiming to save democracy is violating that very concept, how the entirety of party leadership lied about the condition of the president, and that we may never know how many backroom deals have been struck with Biden’s inner circle as well as throughout the Dem environment. Seriously - the Democrats demand you ignore all of that.
Another detail that needs to be tuned out is the record of the woman ascending to the top of the ballot. Kamala has a record that is more empty than a Sears sales floor. To see one example of the bifurcated standards seen from the media, one needs to only note how her Dan Quayle level of performance has been entirely soft-pedaled in the press. Her verbal malaprops and lack of discernable accomplishments are on par with - if not exceeding - those of the former laughed-off VP.
To assess Kamala’s record we will look at the length of her assignments, but to start we’ll begin not with her tenure but with the days prior, in 2020. We had a perfect exemplar of what would be delivered by Harris as Biden’s wing-woman during a campaign stop in Miami, back when she was doing more PR as a result of Biden hiding from the press and frequently calling a lid on the trail.
In September of that year, Kamala made a publicity stop at Amaize Latin Flavors, a restaurant in the city of Doral. As she entered smiling and glad-handing patrons as cameras covered the visit, it was a muted affair. No huddled smiling voters served as a backdrop, as this was an impromptu visit, and quickly fallout was realized. Local social media roiled at her appearance, and the eatery received backlash.
This was in a Venezuelan enclave, and residents regarded Harris as emblematic of socialism, the political movement tearing down that nation. Many in the area, especially regular customers, pledged boycotts of the restaurant. Her visit was not cleared, the owners were never notified, and the campaign did not use an advance team to ascertain if there was a welcome atmosphere. Her afternoon visit was so opposed that by the 6:00 p.m. newscasts, it was reported the owners completely disavowed involvement. This was a clear display of political ineptitude, and it has carried over during the Biden term.
It has been enthusiastically reported over the years how Joe Biden has tabbed his vice president for specific duties to serve the administration. What has not been detailed with matching energy is how VP Harris has fared in carrying out these duties. A look at the rundown of these assignments delivers unimpressive results.
THE BORDER
Inarguably the most noteworthy assignment Biden has given to Harris was to oversee the border crisis. It has been a laughable mess. She was tasked with this job after her boss stripped away numerous Trump-era border protections, and over the years, record amounts of illegal immigrants have flooded into the country with no indication of stemming that tide. As a result, the press strove to reinterpret her assignment, castigating the GOP who used the term “Border Czar” and diminishing the thrust of her job duties.
The problem is that the administration had built her into that very role, declaring directly she was “placed in charge of the immigration crisis." Making this more of a failure was the length of time Harris spent without ever making it to the border to survey the crisis she was tasked with repairing. In a notably embarrassing interview with Lester Holt, she explained, “At some point, you know, we are going to the border. We’ve been to the border. So this whole thing about the border. We’ve been to the border. We’ve been to the border.”
Abortion Rights
Kamala has always been a loud proponent of abortion, and the most notable development of the issue during her tenure was the rescinding of Roe v. Wade, which sent decisions back to the individual states. Harris was charged with taking on the issue after the Dobbs decision, but what has been accomplished is unseen, as states began instituting tougher restrictions on the procedure.
Voting Rights
Back when it was claimed that Republican-led states were passing laws that limited the ability of minorities to vote (recall the “Jim Eagle” days?) Kamala was given the instructions to head the movement to counter these laws. Harris worked to push the Freedom To Vote John R. Lewis Act, legislation that Politico boasted was something Harris was using as a "chance to make her mark on a hugely important issue." This was among the stalled bills in Congress that led to widespread calls for the filibuster to be eliminated in order to force through Biden’s agenda.
Not only did this bill fail to pass, it was shown to be entirely unneeded. All of the claims of voting rights being trampled and minorities seeing their votes denied were swept aside when Georgia - the state held up as the example of the “racist” laws - saw record voter turnout for primaries and elections.
Black Maternal Health Issues
While a senator, Harris had proposed recognizing Black Maternal Health Week, and Joe Biden began recognizing it his first year in office, giving Harris a pet project. It…has not worked as designed.
The primary drive for this cause was that black women faced mortality rates that were three times higher than seen in white pregnancies. The CDC measure of these deaths by race shows that from 2019 to last year, that discrepancy has mostly held the same since she introduced this policy. At the same time, there has been a rise in the infant mortality rates of black infants in 2022.
Broadband Access Expansion
Kamala has been frequently tabbed with being included/in charge of forging the availability of broadband internet. It is just unclear how successful the effort has been - and how much it is costing taxpayers to save money.
It was in February of 2023 when she announced that 16 million homes were saving on their internet bills, something that was the result of $175 million spent on minority institutions. But by summer, she said there was still a problem with a lack of connectivity, so a $90 billion “investment” was made to connect more underserved homes. Then last November we heard that there were still too many unconnected – so another $65 billion was tabbed. We can only hope they ended up spending enough to actually achieve some results.
Women In The Workforce
One of the earlier missions for Kamala came in her first month in office when she pledged to get women back into the workforce. “This mass exodus of women from the workforce is a national emergency, and it demands a national solution.” The 2.5 million females leaving the employment rolls was a direct result of the pandemic, and the solution was rather straightforward; reopening the country from COVID closures. This is shown to be the case, as the female participation rate is back to the very point it was when the lengthy shutdowns took place.
Racial and Gender Equity
This is an issue that had no-win built into it. Putting Harris into the position to take on the inequality of the races and sexes runs headlong into the liberal paradox: The need to have race and gender controversies to address means solving those problems puts you out of power. If you “solve” racial inequality then you lose that as an issue to campaign on down the road. Solving racial or sexist issues would mean you cannot accuse opponents of guilt on those subjects, and you lost that talking point. On top of that, the true man in power would just issue an executive order to claim to take on the issue, so any work by Kamala is eclipsed entirely.
This four-year track record of Harris is not too impressive if you look at the bottom line. What was accomplished? Which problems were solved? These are questions without answers. So her impending campaign will certainly consist of talking points, dutifully recanted by the journalists, consisting of claims like “I worked for years on abortion and voting rights,” etc.
We are sure to see few making the distinction between the concept of “working on” and the reality of “accomplishing.”
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