The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Kamala Harris is a complete dud
Vice President Kamala Harris’ approval rating reached historic lows late last month, and as a remedy the White House suggested getting Harris out there more.
Bad idea. Responding to an NBC News poll at the end of June showing Harris as the least popular VP in modern history, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients told Axios that they “‘just need to make sure that we do a good job of exposing’” her to the public.’”
But as vice president, a veteran of two national campaigns and former U.S. senator, she’s had plenty of exposure. Are we sure more is the answer?
For some reason Harris supporters think the criticism of her is unfair and people would like her if they just got to know her. But the opposite has proven to be true. The more she appears publicly and makes comments, the deeper her unfavorability plunges.
While Harris seemed competent bullying witnesses in Senate hearings, her performances fell apart as soon as she wasn’t the one asking questions.
Harris has a gift for gaffes and ramblings. She said Tupac was the best rapper alive, decades after his death. She hinted that Joe Biden was a racist, or at least cozy with racists and racist policies, not too long before signing on as
his running mate. She has a strange fascination with Venn diagrams.
She defined the word culture as: “Culture is — it is a reflection of our moment in our time, right? And in present culture is the way we express how we’re feeling about the moment. And we should always find times to express how we feel about the moment that is a reflection of joy, because as you know, it comes in the morning. We have to find ways to also express the way we feel about the moment in terms of just having language and a connection to how people are experiencing life. And I think about it in that way too.”
In other words, Harris often teeters between insincere and indecipherable, which is an unlikeable mix. But to her defenders, the issue is really racism and sexism.
“(It) shouldn’t surprise anyone that there is going to be a different filter and a different focus put on the first woman to ever be Vice President of the United States, particularly a woman of color,” Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher told Axios.
This would make more sense if her white, male predecessors were loved — but they weren’t. Former Vice President Dan Quayle, for example, was panned as a dimwit, most notably for wrongly correcting a sixth grader over how to spell the word “potato,” while Dick Cheney was condemned as “Satan” (subtle!).
The irony of Belcher’s claim is that Harris’ approval numbers are so low that she’s losing Democrats too (who she also lost when she ran for president), which means either the whole country is racist and sexist or Harris is simply bombing.
Since there are plenty of non-white people and women in this country who are popular, I’m going to assume Harris is to blame here. In her defense though, I’d say her legendary disapproval numbers are a sign of the times as well, as Americans have increasingly dismal views of presidents, Congress and government.
But as Americans, we do seem to love to loathe vice presidents. Being a punching bag is not in the job description (officially, they’re just around to break ties in the Senate and have a pulse in case of an emergency, both of which Harris has excelled at), but it should be.
Harris is an accomplished person, for sure. But her approval numbers are a reflection of her performances, a bit of the moment, and not much more.
The White House should do her a favor and reduce her exposure to the public.