By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas | It's the bummer job for anyone who has been a take-charge person in a take-charge position. Being vice-president of the United States has its perks, but it also can be a life seemingly in the outs of frozen Siberia.
Say hell-o to Kamala Harris, the 58-year-old Veep currently being dogged by Republicans ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Incumbent Joe Biden, a Democrat, is seeking another four-year term and, presumably, keeping Harris on the ticket.
She's a target, however.
Right-wing media pundits have lumped on her for the extent of this term and now they are laying it on thicker as the GOP settles its internal brawls to select an opponent for Biden-Harris next year. Does she deserve the criticism? They say she's aloof, that she has not done the most to help Biden tackle thorny issues such as the still-ongoing abortion and border fights.
Harris, a former U.S. Senator from California, could be excused for playing the government's second-banana role to the hilt. She's been no worse than former-Veep Mike Pence, but right-wingers hand Pence a pass on most of the stuff he was and wasn't involved in during Donald J. Trump's term at the White House.
Vice presidents don't often seek the limelight. That's by the very design of the office. She is there to support Biden and to take on issues the president assigns her.
This nugget from an interview of Harris by politico.com: [ There has long been a consensus inside Harris’ inner circle that the vice president needs to get out of Washington and hit the road more. More outreach and handshaking; less time on Capitol Hill.
It’s certain to be the case through the entire 2024 election cycle.
Aides say Harris’ current, more fitting portfolio as the administration’s front person on abortion rights, gun violence, climate change and civil rights will be front and center during the campaign. They view her key constituencies as people of color, especially Black voters, young people and women.
Earlier this month, on the third anniversary of Biden selecting her as his running mate, the campaign released a detailed memo - “Why Vice President Harris Is Invaluable for 2024” - advertising her centrality in its strategy. It also aimed to serve as a tonic to help calm the nerves of some in the Democratic Party still whispering their concerns about Harris running with an octogenarian at the top of the ticket.
Republicans have tried to capitalize on those whispers, using the specter of a Harris presidency as a scare tactic.
“Kamala is a bogeyman that Republicans can use when it comes to pushing their message. A President Harris would be even worse than a President Biden because she campaigned as a progressive fighter and had to moderate herself when she became Biden’s running mate,” said one leading Republican strategist granted anonymity to speak freely.
Harris has heard those and other political attacks since the beginning of the administration.
“There are so-called leaders who aren’t focused on tackling the issues or challenges this country is facing,” she said. “Instead, they focus on me because they don’t want people to focus on what the Biden-Harris administration has delivered.”]
She also served California as its attorney general from 2011 to 2017 and before that was district attorney for San Francisco, 2004-2011.
In those roles, however, Kamala Harris was used to being front-center and calling the shots.
You don't get to do too much of that as a vice president.
The criticism will always be there...
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