OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A new op-ed and analysis published by the Washington Post is calling on failed, unpopular Vice President Kamala Harris to step aside “for the good of the country” and allow President Joe Biden to name a veep successor ahead of the 2024 election.
WaPo columnist Kathleen Parker, who pointed out that she made the same call in 2008 when then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin became GOP nominee Sen. John McCain’s running mate, initially recalled Biden’s commitment to naming a woman as a running mate when he stepped into the contest in 2020. Parker then went on to praise Harris for her past accomplishments and wrote that, as a black American with Asian ancestry, she appeared to check off several Democrat Party boxes in terms of an ‘ideal’ candidate after she failed to gain any traction with her own presidential bid.
“Harris ended her campaign in December 2019, citing a lack of financial resources. Next thing we knew, she was moving into the Naval Observatory. She was a colossal failure as border czar, a position she held briefly, and otherwise seemed to have gone undercover,” Parker wrote.
“Whatever the reasons, it has seemed that Harris’s role was to be quiet, lest she embarrass her boss with her sometimes inane, rambling remarks and a laugh that erupts from nowhere about nothing obvious to others. I do, however, relish the thought of her face-to-face with Vladimir Putin and suddenly cackling at a linchpin moment during nuclear arms discussions,” the columnist continued.
The Kamala conundrum boils down to this: She was chosen because of her race and gender, a combination seen as providing job security, Parker wrote. However, now that she has become a liability to the Democratic ticket, Biden faces a dilemma, she says: He cannot dismiss her, as it risks alienating his base.
Despite what Parker described as Biden’s relatively successful State of the Union address, concerns persist over his declining mental faculties and increasing physical frailty.
“Every honest person knows he’s not in top form. A recent New York Times poll found that 73 percent of registered voters believe Biden is too old to be the nation’s top executive. This includes 61 percent of those who voted for him in 2020,” she wrote.
Parker then reflected on Harris’ dismal polling numbers, noting that a recent FiveThirtyEight survey analysis found her approval at around 37 percent, which is horrid for either a VP or a president.
“There’s no reason to think her ranking would spike were she suddenly promoted to the Oval Office. Instead, most signs point to disaster. This is why I propose with all due respect that Harris step away from the ticket,” Parker wrote, adding:
This is not a partisan suggestion. I said the same about Sarah Palin in 2008 when it became clear, as I wrote, that she was “out of her league.” No one would have blamed Palin for wanting to spend more time with her family, including a new baby, I said. I ended the column with these words, “Do it for your country.”
“Harris could provide her own reasons for moving on. Perhaps she and Biden could a cut a deal for her to become the next attorney general — if he’s reelected. Biden then could tap someone else with executive experience who could reassure voters that the next vice president would be ready to take the reins should events require it. Democrats and Republicans alike would be relieved.” noted Parker.
She concluded: “Please, Madame Vice President, do it for your country.”
But that doesn’t seem likely; Harris is hitting the campaign trail as one of the most unpopular veeps in modern history and amid falling poll numbers for Biden.
