Column: The vice president can’t—or won’t—fashion her own political identity
Michael Dukakis shows up in a tank. George H.W. Bush checks his watch during a debate. John Kerry says he was for the $87 billion for Iraq before he was against it. Mitt Romney writes off the 47 percent of voters who receive government benefits. Hillary Clinton lambastes the deplorables.
Such moments brought clarity. They defined the candidates. They laid out the stakes. They changed the story.
Add another to the list. On Tuesday, Kamala Harris appeared on The View. A friendly host asked if there’s anything she would do differently than President Biden. Harris hesitated, as if she hadn’t anticipated or understood the question.
That was typical. Her answer was not. “There is not a thing that comes to mind,” she said.
Oof. Not only did Harris take ownership of the Biden record. She displayed a startling lack of independence. Not a thing comes to mind? Not the inflation that’s gnarled the economy, not the millions of illegal immigrants who have crossed the southern border, not the widespread feeling of social disorder in cities and on campuses, not the withdrawal from Afghanistan, handling of Ukraine, nor the regional war in the Middle East?
Harris says no. She’s proud of this administration. She stands by her man. “I’ve been part of most of the decisions that have had impact,” she added. And what impact: a president with 41 percent job approval and a nation where just 22 percent of people are satisfied with the direction of the country.
Thus Harris’s dilemma: She’s the incumbent vice president of an unpopular administration, running to chart “a new way forward” without saying anything fresh. Even the most talented political gymnast would have trouble pulling off such a stunt. Harris stumbled at the outset.
Her loyalty to Biden is a mystery. What’s stopping her from going her own way? She wouldn’t split the party. She wouldn’t alienate swing voters. She wouldn’t hurt fundraising—her campaign has raised a billion dollars. These are the last weeks before Election Day. Harris is free to be herself.
Maybe that’s the problem. Harris doesn’t just show loyalty when she defends Biden. She reveals intellectual bankruptcy. The policy cabinet is bare. She has no substantive rebuttals to criticism of inflation, the border, and the Middle East. Her proposals are rehashes of White House initiatives on taxes, housing, and small business. Remember that she went on The View to announce a new home health care entitlement. No one noticed.
Any differences with Biden are cosmetic. Harris often points out that she and Biden are not the same person. Well, I’m not Brad Pitt. The issue isn’t who you are. It’s how you act, what you want, what you believe.
Harris said later on during The View that unlike Biden, she plans to nominate a Republican to her cabinet. Another superficial answer. Cabinet secretaries have little independent authority. Which Republican is she thinking of? What post? To what end? Jeff Flake at Commerce is one thing. Liz Cheney as secretary of defense—well, now you’ve piqued my interest. More likely, of course, Harris would appoint a token Republican to an unimportant office, adding a bipartisan veneer to a progressive administration.
The irony is that the more closely Harris hews to the Biden line, the more she weakens her candidacy. Her momentum has stalled. Polling shows Donald Trump shoring up his position in the Sun Belt and gaining ground in the Rust Belt. Voters trust Trump on the economy. They don’t know enough about Harris to embrace her candidacy. They see her as too liberal. Hugging Biden won’t change that.
Nor has Biden reciprocated. He’s not exactly helping Harris’s cause. He flaunts the connection with his veep, toying with her prospects as he fills out his days in the White House. Rather than talk up her agenda, he boasts of how she’s with him. Rather than take another long vacation, he’s decided to become active in the campaign. Rather than join Harris in her ridiculous feud with Florida’s governor, he’s been in regular contact with Ron DeSantis and complimented Florida’s emergency response.
Democrats are worried. In an election this close, every minute counts. Yet Harris’s rollout, convention, debate performance, massive resources, and positive press haven’t given her a decisive edge. It may be Harris’s race to lose. But right now, she’s losing it.
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