Some Democrats Think Kamala Harris Deserves a 'Second Look'

As Biden's poll numbers continue to drop and his approval rating heads for Titanic territory, some Democrats are making the argument that the only alternative to a Biden candidacy that won't blow up the party is for Biden to anoint Vice President Kamala Harris as heir-apparent and ride off into the sunset.

I'm not sure this scenario is viable unless Biden resigns and allows Harris to automatically assume the front-runner status. At that point, even Gavin Newsom would stand aside and get behind Harris.

If Biden remains in office but drops out of the race due to age or infirmity, that would set off a war between Democratic radicals and Democratic not-so-radicals that would tear the party apart and hand the election to Trump.

So if the only viable alternative for Biden is for the president to resign and allow Vice President Harris to ascend to the presidency, there would be grumbling from the far left, but given its terror of the Man With Orange Hair, most of the party would fall in line behind Harris.

But what would the American people think? Harris is too easy to make fun of, and her shortcomings have been on display for all to see.

Matthew Yglesias tries to put lipstick on a pig without much success.

Comparing apples to apples, a Harris Poll1 in mid-November had Trump up 12 on the VP and up six on POTUS. Another mid-November poll, this one from Fox, showed Trump beating Biden by four and Harris by five.

On the other hand, in job approval polling, Biden is underwater by 17.6 points versus Harris’ 17.5 points.

I think this makes the evidence a little bit less clear-cut than it seems at first glance. For whatever reason, Biden’s approval numbers have fallen by more than Harris’, and she’s roughly tied with him now. Which, of course, is not good. But generally, you’d expect people to have pretty similar views of the president and the VP. The fact that she had markedly lower job approval ratings for a while was noteworthy and led a lot of people (including me) to dismiss “put in the backup” as a potential answer to concerns about Biden’s age. If Biden’s edge has vanished, that’s worth knowing.

Biden's numbers are more underwater than Harris's, and that means we should give Kamala a second look? When it's all you got, it's all you got.

Harris used to be a prosecutor. While she tried to soften her image during her short-lived 2020 presidential campaign, the radical left never forgave her for putting people in jail.

Harris, as an actual prosecutor, really does have a formula for talking about why arresting criminals is good and fighting crime is important. She’s also weathered political controversy in the past for her tough stance on truancy and absenteeism in schools. Back in 2019, I think that struck a lot of people as a weird issue. But with school attendance now a national crisis, it’s worth addressing.

Also, don't forget: Kamala is a woman. That sure counted for a lot when Hillary Clinton ran in 2016, right?

And while I know everyone felt a little exhausted after Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016, we shouldn’t underplay the element of genuine excitement and hunger to shatter the glass ceiling. I don’t think a hypothetical Harris presidential campaign should make that their central message (I actually don't think she should say it at all), but it would generate a burst of enthusiasm in at least some quarters.

There has to be a huge dollop of delusional thinking to believe that Harris could be a credible candidate for a major party. She is inarticulate to the point of embarrassment. She is even more ignorant of the issues than Donald Trump, and at least Trump doesn't pretend to be an expert.

Most importantly, how many American voters can really see her as president? Once people start imagining Kamala Harris in the White House, they will run screaming in terror into Trump's arms.