Kamala Harris takes over the warm vice presidency portfolio

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris gave a widely reviewed television interview while visiting Guatemala this week.

When asked why he had not been on the U.S.-Mexico border, where the influx of immigrants puts a lot of pressure on local communities, Harris dismissed the question and said, “We’ve been on the border.” Pressed, she laughed and said, “And I haven’t been to Europe.”

His comments drew criticism and underscored the political dangers facing White House No. 2 official while juggling a heavy and expanding policy portfolio.

Harris was in Central America as the leader of the Biden administration’s response to the border problem, including the thorny question of how to address migrants fleeing north of the troubled countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

He has also been given the almost intractable task of contentious grazing voting rights and police reform of legislation through a heavily divided Congress. She has paved the way to sell President Joe Biden’s sweeps infrastructures plans. In addition, he has also been interested in black maternal mortality and other racial equity issues, including the fight against vaccine vacancy among African Americans.

The tasks of vice-presidency are such that normally, if you are successful, they become the successes of the president and the administration. If you are not successful, they will become yours

Harris ’first trip abroad as vice president exposed what detractors and allies say are his shortcomings as a politician and the vulnerabilities in the event of re-running for president. Harris, a former California senator, dropped a major primary bid for the White House in late 2019.

His comments on NBC News earlier in the week sparked outrage, especially from Republicans who reject the administration over migrants. Meanwhile, he grabbed flak of fellow Democrats to urge migrants not to come to the border in the first place.

Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic strategist, noted that the vice president did not convey his message effectively during the trip.

“If this is your debut as vice president on the international stage, you want to deliver your best performance and you can certainly do better,” Marsh said.

Harris made history on her oath in January, becoming the first woman, the first black person, and the first Asian-American to serve as vice president. It has oversized power as a tiebreaker vote in a Senate evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. But the other functions of a vice president are less defined.

People close to the administration claim Harris has proven to be a skilled adviser to the president and an almost constant presence in the White House, attending regular briefings, offering advice to Biden and appearing by his side to make great speeches.

Biden himself served as vice president of President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017. When he announced Harris as a running mate last summer, he said he hoped she would give advice as he did to Obama.

“When I agreed to be President Obama’s position mate. . . he asked me what I wanted more. . . I told him I wanted to be the last person in the room before I made important decisions, ”Biden said.

He added: “This is what I asked Kamala. I asked Kamala to be the last voice in the room. ”

Harris is barely the first hard-working vice president. Most recently, Mike Pence, vice president of Donald Trump, directed the White House coronavirus working group.

“The tasks of vice-presidency are such that normally, if you are successful, they become the successes of the president and the administration. If you don’t succeed, they will become yours, “said Kenneth Baer, ​​founder of Crosscut Strategies. He was a speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore in the Clinton administration and Gore’s unfortunate 2000 presidential candidacy.

Harris supporters argue that her challenging portfolio only highlights the faith Biden has placed in her.

“Any of these problems would be a full-time job for most people,” Marsh said.

Many Democrats argue that Harris faces undue criticism, especially from Republicans, given her identity as a woman of color. But others admit he took the wrong steps in Latin America and say his refusal to correct course (Harris later had an icy exchange with a Univision TV anchor about the border crisis) only reminds people her shortcomings as a presidential candidate in 2019.

“What I think you’ve seen in recent weeks. . . these are some of the problems you saw during the campaign, “Marsh said.” At different times during the campaign, he didn’t perform particularly well. Other days, he was spectacular. ”

Biden’s 78-year-old political future is approaching Harris’ tenure. His allies say he is focusing on supporting the president as he tries to push through his legislative agenda ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, when control of both houses of Congress is ready to take over. Next week, as part of his voting rights mandate, he will meet with Texas state lawmakers, where Democrats recently blocked a state bill that would have restricted access to the polls.

“It simply came to our notice then. . . which is focused on his future as opposed to work, and I just don’t think that’s true, ”said Dylan Loewe, a former speechwriter for then-Vice President Biden, who also wrote Harris’ memoirs.

“The last thing he wants for his future presidential campaign, whenever it is, is for the plot to be that he focused on the future and not the president, and that he wasn’t the same kind of vice president Joe Biden as he was. be Joe Biden for Barack Obama “.