Two years into Joe Biden’s presidency, we now know that there are two types of major mainstream-media pieces written about Vice President Kamala Harris: the first type is a profile piece that concludes, “Harris is in trouble,” and the second type is, “Harris has turned the corner.”
Today is “Harris is in trouble” day at the Washington Post, where Cleve Wootson writes:
Concerns about Harris’s political strength were repeated often by more than a dozen Democratic leaders in key states interviewed for this story, some speaking on the condition of anonymity to convey candid thoughts. Harris’s tenure has been underwhelming, they said, marked by struggles as a communicator and at times near-invisibility, leaving many rank-and-file Democrats unpersuaded that she has the force, charisma and skill to mount a winning presidential campaign.
Time has demonstrated that the “Harris has turned the corner” pieces were mostly wishful thinking. Harris’s approval and disapproval ratings over the past year are basically two flat lines. She is almost always approved by about 40 percent, and she is almost always disapproved by more than 50 percent. At this point, the cement has dried around the perception of the vice president.
Her interview answers and off-the-cuff remarks aren’t going to get any better. No, there is not going to be an expansion of her “KHive” fan base. There is no new Kamala Harris waiting to be discovered. Her supporters can quibble here and there about how the Biden administration has used her, but she’s been on the job for two years, she’s given hundreds of speeches and interviews, been on plenty of foreign trips, run plenty of meetings. What you see is what you get. There is no new communications strategy, no new staffer, no new role that can change how Americans feel about Harris.
As Christine Rosen laid out in NR in October:
Harris’s seemingly perfect identity-politics résumé is perhaps the main reason she has proven to be unsuited to the task. Having risen to power in deep-blue California, she has rarely been seriously criticized or forced to defend herself to voters or colleagues who weren’t already on her side. As a result, she has never had to develop the charisma, persuasiveness, and eloquence of a successful politician. She was chosen as VP only after Biden had dramatically narrowed his criteria by declaring he would choose a woman of color for the position.
Kamala Harris is just not that strong a political figure. Maybe she’s beloved by the Twitter Left, but when it comes to the electorate as a whole, she’s just not that compelling or persuasive. Given the second-most-important role in the executive branch, she is seen by leaders in her own party as “underwhelming,” “struggling,” or “near-invisible.” Picking Harris was Biden’s first major decision as the Democratic nominee. He botched it.