We’ll be seeing more of Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election

But Republicans haven’t really surfaced their message.

“I think we can all make it very clear that if you vote for Joe Biden, you really count on President Harris because the idea that President Harris can live to 86 is inconceivable to me. “I think it’s likely,” former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, told Fox News.

Loading

In a Fox News op-ed, Haley added that Harris was one of “the most incompetent elected officials in the country” and had a tendency to make statements that fell into “word salad.”

Mr. Biden’s allies have responded by highlighting what they claim to be Mr. Harris’ credit, including helping to rally the world against Russia and conveying powerful messages about abortion and voting rights. The Republican attack on the first black and Asian female vice president is rooted in racism and misogyny, they say.

Still, Mr. Harris’ blunders over the past two years have haunted Democrats across the country and in the White House, with aides saying there is a subtle but determined effort to reform reputations.

Several co-chairs of the Biden reelection campaign say the response to such attacks is simple: dismiss it as a distraction and highlight the progress the nation has made under Biden and Harris. said it was.

“We know that race, ethnicity, and sexism all play a role in the politics of this country, but we’ve never had a woman president,” said South Carolina Democrat James Cliburn. There’s a reason we didn’t,” he said. Referring to the color of Mr. Harris’s skin, he said, “According to the will of God, we are not going to spend a lot of time apologizing. I’m going to put it up and spend all my time facing Joe Biden as president.”

But Democrats face the reality that polls reflect widespread skepticism about Mr. Harris. A recent poll by the Washington Post ABC News found that 55% said Harris was ineligible to take over, up from 38% in 2020.

Democrats said earlier this year that they found Harris’ tenure overwhelming, marked by his struggles as a communicator, his sometimes almost invisible presence and his insistent narrative about staff turnover. She is the second chief of staff and the second chief press secretary, but she has yet to hire a third head of communications after Jamal Simmons stepped down this year. This is in stark contrast to Mr. Biden, who has had a stable advisory board for decades.

Loading

Kevin Munoz, spokesman for the Biden v. Harris 2024 campaign, said in a statement that Harris was a “brilliant governing and campaign partner,” and that the Republicans’ criticisms of the Republican platform’s failure to resonate with the American people. said it was a manifestation.

“Republicans, unable to debate the pros and cons of unpopular and extreme MAGA policies, are resorting to the same tired and false attacks against Vice President Harris over and over again,” he said. .

Harris served in the Senate for four years before joining the Biden campaign after an ill-fated presidential election, but Republicans say she hasn’t found a footing since. They took on one of Biden’s mandates: addressing the root causes of illegal immigration to the United States. Dubbed Biden’s “border emperor,” Harris had a problem that has plagued generations of politicians in both parties.

Early in his tenure, Harris stumbled in an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt and promised to visit the border, but this bounced back on social media and was one of several missteps repeatedly aired on Fox News. was one

Her allies argue that these setbacks are masked by her recent success. She has been a spokesperson for the administration on abortion rights, a key motivator of the midterm elections, and has also traveled abroad, including a week in Africa, highlighting her personal ties to the continent and her unique position in American politics. have succeeded.

Loading

Harris’ supporters also said the role of vice president made it nearly impossible for her to develop a strong political identity, and if there were any failures, it was because she had just taken the office. claims to have happened when faced with the relentless spotlight on .

The question for the Biden team is whether it’s too late, analysts say. “We’re very much dealing with sonic bites, and her sonic bites ended up being Lester Holt and Border Patrol… Staff turnover and stuff like that,” said a deputy at St. Louis University. Chancellor academic Joel Goldstein said. “And there’s no second chance for her to set her first impression. Those early soundbites continue to define her.”

In a television interview earlier this month, Mr. Biden claimed that Mr. Harris had done far more than many bystanders realized.

“I don’t think Vice President Harris gets the recognition he deserves,” he told MSNBC. “She was the Attorney General of California. is not collected.”

In an interview, Mr. Biden also challenged the idea that he was too old for another term, saying he had “gained so much wisdom” over the years. Biden added, “I have more experience than anyone who has ever run for election. And I think I’ve proven that I’m not only capable, but honorable.”

Biden’s ally, Delaware Democrat Lisa Brandt Rochester, said the Republican attack on Harris was a far cry from the day-to-day concerns of Americans.

“Instead of focusing on policy, people focus on character,” said Brandt Rochester. “And really, this administration’s focus has been on how to improve the lives of ordinary Americans. How can we make people safer? What should I do to be able to pay for

The vice president’s allies say the “President Harris” offensive line is nothing new. When Biden chose her former primary rival for her 2020 vice presidential nomination, Republicans tried and failed to portray her as a puppeteer pulling strings for the aging president.

After the vice presidential debate that year, President Trump called her “the monster that was on the stage with Mike Pence.” Republicans have tried to portray her as sleazy, radical, or both, focusing on her laughter, her shopping choices, and her relationship with fellow Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren.

For years, both parties have tried to ridicule vice-presidential candidates deemed ineligible to take over.

In 1988, when George H.W. Bush chose a young, untested senator named Dan Quayle as his running mate, Democrats circulated images of Edvard Munch. scream With the phrase “President Quayle.” By 1992, when Bush ran for re-election, the majority of the American public, including a significant number of conservatives, wanted Bush to remove Quayle from the election.

A more obvious precedent would be the 2008 election, when Republican candidate John McCain chose then-relatively unknown Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential nominee. At 72, McCain was supposed to be the oldest president to take office, but Biden was 78 when he took office.

Democrats, like Republicans today, questioned McCain’s age and Palin’s competence. “If, as God forbid, something happened to John McCain, we are confident that Sarah Palin would know what to do and take the helm of American foreign policy. Why is she ready to be commander-in-chief?” Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman-Schultz told MSNBC.

McCain’s response to age-related questions at the time sounds like a more realistic precursor to Biden’s message today. “I’m older than dirt and have more scars than Frankenstein, but I’ve learned a few things along the way,” McCain said.

Vice presidential scholar Goldstein warned in 1956 that re-electing Dwight D. Eisenhower, who suffered a heart attack a year earlier, would mean handing over the keys to the White House. Mr. Biden may take comfort from a classic example, he said. to then-Vice President Richard M. Nixon.

Eisenhower won anyway and lived well beyond his tenure.

“Ironically, Eisenhower outlived his critics,” Goldstein said. “He completed his term and outlived Nixon until he was elected in 1968 and took office in 1969.”

Washington Post