Vice President Kamala Harris seeks to have it both ways. She wants the benefits of incumbency when it suits her while also being unburdened by President Joe Biden ’s record (and her own) when that is what’s politically advantageous.
Several recent events have demonstrated the limits of this strategy. As a hurricane rocked Florida, there was an awkward split screen with Biden and Harris trying to look presidential at the same time. Harris sought to shoehorn herself into the federal response despite playing no obvious role and, in the process, wound up sparring with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), a possible 2028 rival.
But it was DeSantis, who actually had work to do when Hurricane Milton struck, who got to dismiss Harris’s “political games.” While Harris described the Florida governor as “selfish” for ducking her calls and not allowing her a Chris Christie / Barack Obama embrace moment from 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, Biden said DeSantis was “gracious.”
Harris was reduced to calling in to cable television weather shows to look as if she somehow had something to do with what was going on. She delivered an awkward speech on the storm, during which she told someone off camera, “It’s a live broadcast.” Here she wants to be an incumbent, part of the Biden-Harris administration team.
When it comes to the economy and the border, she would like to be seen as a new direction for the country. But even on the latter issue, she who may not be called the border czar wants to take credit for the recent drop in illegal immigration, from the Biden-Harris administration ’s record highs, despite the fact that none of her so-called legislative solutions to the matter have been enacted.
It is unusual for incumbent vice presidents to seek the presidency while distancing themselves from the presidents they serve. Harris is perhaps finding it to be impossible. On two separate occasions during her recent media blitz, itself a strategic shift that may signal flagging confidence, Harris was asked what she might have done differently than Biden. Both times, she could not name anything.
This, of course, has been one of the central questions of the campaign since Harris replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket in July. At the time, Harris revitalized flagging Democratic enthusiasm and brought some disenchanted liberals and younger voters back home. No longer were Democrats saddled with an 81-year-old nominee who was increasingly struggling as a messenger for his own campaign. Joy was restored!
More recently, however, some of the pitfalls of switching from Biden to Harris have become apparent. She hasn’t been able to replicate Biden’s support among labor households, with private sector union members seemingly defecting to former President Donald Trump . Both the International Association of Fire Fighters and the Teamsters have declined to endorse during this election cycle, with union leadership unable to overcome the wishes of the rank and file. This could have major implications for Harris’s prospects in the Rust Belt.
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Harris’s recent inability to distance herself from Biden’s term, beyond promising to put some Republicans in her Cabinet, may also reflect her need to keep the peace with Biden, who still remains president.
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Harris promised a generational change in leadership. In the closing weeks of the campaign, she is reverting to offering more of the same. Four more years?
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