Kamala Harris isn’t liked by anyone these days. Even Joe Biden and his handlers don’t like her. Now other Democrats are feeling alienated by the worst Vice President in American history.
We’ve seen much ink (many keystrokes?) expended on how Joe Biden needed Kamala Harris to keep afloat his chances of ascending to the White House. Writers and pundits have debated whether Biden choosing Harris was a crass political move or whether he genuinely wanted to rely on her expertise — whatever that might have been.
But the most fascinating story is what has happened since the election. Standing out on the sinking ship that is the Biden administration are Vice President Harris’s tanking approval ratings. She’s been known as much for her gaffes as she has for anything serious she’s done.
Now reports are surfacing that Harris is facing continued isolation from the White House and other Democrats. The New York Times published an article on Thursday that posed the question of whether Harris is actually an afterthought to her party.
The piece begins with an account of President Biden meeting with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Biden called on Harris not to provide advice or insight, but simply to pop in, say hello, and leave.
“While most presidents promise their vice presidents access and influence, at the end of the day, power and responsibility are not shared equally, and Mr. Biden does not always feel a need for input from Ms. Harris as he navigates some of his most important relationships,” writers Katie Rogers and Zolan Kanno-Youngs note.
One of the most telling anecdotes in the article concerns the administration’s tasking of Harris with the border crisis. Of course, we know the story: how she wasted valuable time before visiting our southern border, even snidely telling NBC’s Lester Holt that not going to the border didn’t matter because she hadn’t visited Europe, either.
“And I mean, I don’t understand the point that you’re making. I’m not discounting the importance of the border,” she dismissively told Holt.
But the inaction by Harris on the border has gotten the attention of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), a moderate from the vice president’s own party. He told the Times that when Harris was finally visiting the border in June, he called to offer his support and assistance. He never heard from the vice president or her team.