Vice President Kamala Harris has been an object of derision among both Democrats and Republicans. And why not? Harris is a target-rich environment for friend and foe alike thanks to her propensity to open her mouth to spew the most indecipherable word salad in Washington.
“We invested an additional $12 billion into community banks, because we know community banks are in the community, and understand the needs and desires of that community as well as the talent and capacity of community,” said Harris in speaking about — you guessed it — “community banks.”
Sometimes, she doesn’t even need a subject.
“We also recognize just as it has been in the United States, for Jamaica, one of the issues that has been presented as an issue that is economic in the way of its impact has been the pandemic.”
“So to that end, we are announcing today also that we will assist Jamaica in COVID recovery by assisting in terms of the recovery efforts in Jamaica that have been essential to, I believe, what is necessary to strengthen not only the issue of public health but also the economy.”
Related: Biden Won’t Ditch Kamala if He Runs
Anyway, top Democrats — strangely, none associated with the West Wing — are calling on other Democrats to cool it with the Kamala jokes.
Embedded in many top Democrats’ thinking as Biden appears headed toward a reelection campaign announcement, according to CNN’s conversations with three dozen leading Democrats, is fear that years of Harris negativity could now prove a political problem. Any running mate is a heartbeat away from the presidency, they say, but that’s a different proposition when the heart in question has been beating for more than 80 years.
Multiple Democratic leaders contend that if people don’t start feeling more positive about the next person in the line of succession, they might turn away from the ticket entirely. They’re urging allies to stop the Harris pile-on, if only for Biden’s sake – or for Democrats’ sake, or the party’s future.
But that’s easier said than done. A recent Zoom call organized by a former Biden Senate speechwriter and attended by Hollywood donors, executives and actors, was an intervention of sorts, with the activists claiming that Harris is a drag on the ticket and needs to go.
Harris is a huge liability, they complained to former California Sen. Barbara Boxer, according to two people on the call. She would hurt Biden’s chances, because people will focus on her, given his age. How, one asked Boxer, do they get Biden to replace her?
Boxer – whom Harris succeeded in the Senate in 2016 – gave a muted response.
“If that’s how you feel, you should let Biden know,” Boxer told them, according to people on the call. Asked about the comments, Boxer told CNN, “I said it was the president’s choice.”
In some ways, the “word salad” caricature will be nearly impossible to overcome, given that Republicans aren’t going to let anyone forget it. That said, the reasons Harris is valuable to Biden are the same reasons he chose her in the first place.
“She’ll never be a ‘normal VP,’” South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, the assistant Democratic leader in the House and a key booster of both Biden and Harris, told CNN. “My goodness, she’s the first African American VP. She’s the first Asian American VP. This is the first female VP, having to be normal. How can it be normal? It’s never going to be normal.”
Ditching Harris will be more politically expensive than keeping her around.
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