The Case for Kamala Harris: One columnist is making the case for Kamala Harris, at a time when Republican presidential candidates are open about running against her in 2024.
Don’t Count Out Kamala Harris
Do the Democrats have a problem, with Kamala Harris on the ticket for 2024?
There have been a lot of concerns raised about that- but they’re more likely to come from Republicans saying Democrats should be worried, than from Democrats actually being worried.
Presidential candidate Nikki Haley, for instance, said in a Fox and Friends interview last week that “a vote for President Biden is actually a vote for President Harris,” and “We are running against Kamala Harris, make no bones about it… they know that it’s Kamala Harris that’s gonna end up being president of the United States if Joe Biden wins this election.”
New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin, meanwhile, wrote last week that Harris is “a Biden fall away from being in the Oval Office.”
At any rate, Harris — contrary to recent nonsense suggesting that Barack Obama could be Biden’s running mate again — is going to be on the ticket in 2024, having been featured extensively in the re-election campaign rollout. And one columnist says that the Democrats should lean into Harris, rather than against her.
LZ Granderson, writing in the Los Angeles Times, referenced Republican fear-mongering about “President Harris,” and noted that being able to step in for an incapacitated president is what vice presidents are for.
“The hope is that the selection is more about qualifications than politics. When it comes to Harris, conservatives like Haley remain hungry to test that out, because they see a political opening,” Granderson writes. “Their hunt began in 2020, the moment Biden made it clear his pick would be a Black woman. The more crowded the GOP field becomes this time around, the more frenzied their rhetoric about Harris is sure to become.”
Granderson went on to urge the Democrats to “own Biden’s choice,” and emphasize Harris.
“We know Haley’s scare tactic wasn’t intended to sow dissension on the left, because … well, she was speaking on Fox News. So that ‘President Harris’ specter was meant for Republican voters who would hate not only the thought of a Biden successor who could deliver on his promises but also the image of Harris being the commander-in-chief doing it.”
Granderson concluded that the president should stand up to that – and note that unlike Trump, his vice president is standing by his side and running with him and not against him.
“Biden should not allow opponents to use a ‘President Harris’ narrative as a sign of his frailty; it’s a strength. His first big decision as the nominee was historic. Now, go remind voters why it was also right … which is something Trump can’t do.”
Indeed, Donald Trump’s first-term vice president, Mike Pence, is running against him, while a pro-Pence Super PAC released an ad Thursday emphasizing Trump’s role in the January 6 resurrection, which led to Trump’s supporters chanting “Hang Mike Pence.”
There has already been reporting that the Biden team is trying to shore up Harris’ political standing, ahead of the 2024 campaign.
“Republicans are resorting to the same tired, failed, and false attacks on Vice President Harris that they’ve used over and over again because they can’t argue on the merits of their unpopular, extreme MAGA agenda,” spokesman Kevin Munoz told The Washington Post last week.
US News looked at that quandary earlier this month.
“The 80-year-old president insists he is up for the rigors of a second term, which would end with him at age 86 if he completed it,” that analysis said. “But at the same time, the White House and the Biden-Harris campaign are elevating Harris’ profile to give voters a real-time idea of what it would be like to have not just the first woman, but the first woman of color, leading the country.”
Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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