Kamala Harris is the Only One for Joe Biden – Struggling in the polls and nearly defeated in the Democratic Party’s Presidential Primary in 2020, Joe Biden had to do something bold to shake up his ailing campaign.
After losing Iowa and New Hampshire, Biden sojourned to South Carolina—where he’d basically make his last stand.
Biden turned to the only constituency that could save his collapsing campaign: the African-American community.
The Minority Vote and the Democratic Party
A key constituency of the modern Democratic Party, Biden, as an old white guy from the Northeast, had to somehow appeal to this community.
According to many sources, it was the horrible events of Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, in which white supremacists murdered an anti-racism protester and the forty-fifth president, Donald J. Trump, praised “both sides” of the groups—the white supremacists and supposed anti-racists—that prompted the aging Biden to run for the presidency in the first place.
Biden turned to the longtime civil rights icon and Democratic Party congressman, James Clyburn, who represented South Carolina’s sixth congressional district since 1993.
Biden knew that if he could get Clyburn onboard, the African-American vote would be turned toward his favor.
Clyburn’s only requirement according to experts and journalists for supporting Biden was for Biden to nominate a female of color as his vice-presidential running-mate. The deal was made. South Carolina flipped for Biden and set him on the successful path to the presidency.
Kamala Harris was the obvious choice.
As a former state attorney general and, later, senator representing California, Harris had both the right background as well as the professional experience to qualify as Biden’s number two.
Kamala Harris is Awful
The only problem was that Harris performed poorly in her first presidential run in 2020.
Nevertheless, she was liked by the Democratic Party’s powerbrokers—including former President Barack Obama—and it was believed she carried weight with the two essential voting blocs in the Democratic Party, people of color and women.
Once in office, however, Kamala Harris went from an articulate, Howard-educated, former senator from California to what sounded like a blithering idiot. Her vice-presidential speeches have become infamous for their nonsensical statements and bizarre presentations.
Kamala Harris has been widely criticized by virtually every element of the Democratic Party which once supported her because of her abysmal public showings over the last three years.
What’s more, shortly before opting to keep her as his number two in the upcoming reelection campaign, reports proliferated in the press that President Biden himself was “annoyed” with his vice-president for “not rising to the occasion.” Harris was given a policy portfolio of key issues that she has been unable to remedy.
Many have speculated that Harris was given was amounts to a poison pill policy portfolio.
Impossible tasks, like resolving the crisis at the southwestern border (without suggesting the completion of the wall or increasing the Customs and Border Patrol capability to deport illegal immigrants, of course) or ending the Ukraine War were included in that portfolio.
Although, there are other areas where Vice-President Harris, despite her uncanny ability to suffer from word salad or to drop the policy ball repeatedly at key times for the Biden Administration, excels.
Identity Politics is All That Matters for the Left
And that’s usually in the areas where gender and race politics are involved.
Harris was never more eloquent or effective as vice-president than when she came out against the conservative Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Harris’ support among the key demographic of women exploded after her repeated attacks on the Supreme Court’s ruling.
More recently, Harris has made attacking Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running against Donald Trump for the Republican Party’s nomination in the 2024 Presidential Election, and his “anti-Woke” agenda a centerpiece of her appeal to African-American voters.
It is likely working, even if the polls are not showing much improvement.
In these key demographics, Harris will probably prove herself to be much more of an asset than a liability to President Biden’s reelection campaign. When push-comes-to-shove, whatever problems voters—notably Democrats—have with Harris, at the end of the day, they will support her simply because of her identity.
People need to understand just how important identity politics is to the Democratic Party. That political organization cannot survive without its ceaseless obsession on matters of race, gender, and sexuality.
Forget the merits of Kamala Harris. All that really matters is how she resonates with minority voters.
That’s always been her appeal to the Biden Campaign.
That’s why, despite all her issues as vice-president, she continues to serve as Biden’s number two. It’s why, if Biden falls (which, given his age, it’s a question of when, not if), Democrats won’t mind her being president.
So don’t listen to those saying Joe Biden could replace her. It won’t happen.
A 19FortyFive Senior Editor, Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as at American Greatness and the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (Encounter Books), and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (July 23). Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon. He writes from a conservative perspective.
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