Biden’s Sweeping Progressive Agenda Forcing Harris to Recalibrate
Long content to work only on political campaigns, nothing turns me off more these days than mindless partisan talking points, ideological bloviating and gratuitously trashing elected officials. I’ll also preface the following observations about Vice-President Kamala Harris by stating I believe she and Joe Biden are our legitimately-elected leaders.
That being said, I’ve always found it fascinating to assess the many intangibles that go into determining a politician’s ‘success’ or lack thereof in the public arena; to carefully observe how one systematically makes their way along the winding road of pitfalls, obstacles and minefields.
Meeting and succeeding subjective ‘expectations’ established by the media and political cognoscenti is as much an art as it is strong communications skills, crisp decision-making, and good fortune. But besides polling, there are no tangible metrics by which to gauge whether a high-profile politician like Kamala Harris is ‘succeeding’ in terms of meeting, exceeding or falling below expectations.
Despite the sizzle and klieg-light California star-power surrounding the “image” of Kamala Harris, her first several months as Vice-President have been underwhelming. “Inert” may be the best adjective to characterize her uncertain wandering about the political landscape in search of an identity. The unexpected, however, has contributed to her quandary.
Politico recently reported an insightful, excellent piece detailing some of her difficulties: “The Misunderstood First 100 Days of Kamala Harris” — by Eugene Daniels and Christopher Cadelago — signals the first real warning shot that Harris and her team require re-thinking, retooling and recalibration.
Anyone walking into the role of Vice-President requires a period of time to assimilate, and grow into the job. But one could feel reporting of this nature coming amid a growing sense the Vice-President has been less than sure-footed in conveying who she is, what she wants, and where she intends to go.
Beyond that detailed in the article itself, Vice-President Harris is suffering from three fundamental problems: one of which relates to the unexpectedly progressive nature of the Biden agenda; another relating to her level of experience vis-a-vis the President; the third due primarily to lack of time on the big stage with a strong, built-out team.
Aggressive, Unexpected Nature of Biden’s Progressive Agenda
When Biden took office, the conventional wisdom was he would be more of a ‘caretaker presidency’ with a centrist Democratic agenda. Why? That’s Joe Biden. Harris, it was thought, would be the true progressive change agent one heartbeat away from the Oval Office.
As the Politico article reports:
In many ways, the dynamic at play between Biden and Harris began months before they took office together, when she was being interviewed to become his vice president. At the time, close Biden advisers and allies worried that Harris would outshine him or put her own priorities ahead of his — and their belief was reinforced by some of her critics in California, who urged his campaign to go in another direction.
In fact, just the opposite has occurred: Biden’s own progressive priorities and the sheer scope, size and historic magnitude of the Administration’s domestic proposals have served to unexpectedly marginalize Harris.
But, as Leon Panetta pointed out in the Politico piece, the fact Harris has accepted the politically fraught assignment dealing with Northern Triangle countries in Central America on the root causes of migration provides an opportunity: “That’s part of the game: Let somebody like the vice president handle a very sensitive challenge. In some ways, it’s how you prove yourself.”
Yet the danger for Harris in this scenario is that she becomes mired in contentious immigration issues, and becomes a lightning rod for GOP attacks. Instead of having a fresh opportunity to establish a persona and public identity as the senior Democrat pushing for large-scale, systemic progressive change, Harris becomes a scapegoat for immigration policy failure. But then again, as Panetta surmises, perhaps she’ll prove herself. Easier said than done on this thankless, perhaps intractable issue.
Vast Experience Gap with Joe Biden similar to George H.W. Bush and Dan Quayle
As a former Vice-President and longtime U.S. Senator himself — with decades of service on the Foreign Relations and Judiciary Committees — Joe Biden has more senior-level government experience than any modern-day President. It’s fair to argue that Harris’s experience gap with Biden is as substantial as that between then-newly elected Vice-President Dan Quayle and President George H.W. Bush.
Harris has an edge over Quayle in communications skills and prior experience as a major metro-area prosecutor. But the issue, again, is her cumulative experience versus Biden’s. As time goes by — and time in the public spotlight accumulates — the experience deficit manifests itself in her somewhat aloof public tentativeness.
Need to Build Out Seasoned Political and Fundraising Operations
Throughout her presidential campaign, Harris conveyed a sense she is excessively self-directed. As Vice-President, she has yet to adjust to the fact she must increasingly relinquish the reigns to others with the experience and skills to achieve longer term objectives.
The Politico piece continues: even as Harris’ aides talk up her involvement and focus, others in her orbit worry about her longer-term political standing. Some allies insist she needs to do more to engage needy donors, with one pointing to the fact that former Vice President Mike Pence was staffed by sharp-elbowed political operatives and was able to maintain a political committee to raise money. Harris has no comparable committee. “Pence tended to his garden of political support. She is doing a lot of that herself,” another close ally said. “How extensive her political team is in broadening a universe beyond the Hamptons and the Vineyard, I can’t tell you.”
With a bevy of would-be progressive Presidents-in-waiting in the wings to supersede her in the presidential pecking order if she falters, the pressure is on.
Politico succinctly summarizes the stakes: “Having national stature and proximity to Biden carries political advantages too. Should she run for president, she’d also still be a historical candidate in her own right. Her race and gender continue to create a massive media frenzy and have dramatically raised expectations for her to carve out a lane for a presidential future.”
While diligently working to prove her loyalty to the President is a signal achievement— which will help her longer-term — her ability to survive, thrive and prevail on her own in the top echelon of national politics will depend on her adaptability and sure-footedness amid the unexpected.
