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Jordan Reid Author; Founding Editor, Ramshackle Glam
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It’s way past time Kamala Harris gets the credit she deserves

Jordan Reid Author; Founding Editor, Ramshackle Glam
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President Joe Biden faces many obstacles on his road to reelection in 2024, including a shaky economy, issues at the border and sinking approval ratings. Then there’s Vice President Kamala Harris, who has faced heavy criticism, even from fellow Democrats, since taking office. Biden’s advanced age — he would be 82 at the start of a second term — has only heightened the scrutiny around Harris. But is she being held to an unfair standard?

Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid says much of the criticism about Harris is rooted in misogyny and racism and believes it’s way past time the vice president gets the credit she deserves.

Look, Kamala Harris is qualified for the presidency. She spent two decades as a public servant. She was the first Black woman to be elected District Attorney in California’s history, the first woman to be California’s Attorney General, the first Indian American senator, and the first Black woman and Asian American to be a vice president. Just think for a moment about the obstacles that she had to overcome to make any of those remarkable achievements possible. 

Now, there are absolutely valid critiques of Harris’ performance. She’s made some public gaffes that drew outsized press attention — again, racism and sexism were involved here. Her team has had some management issues, and there have been complaints of a less-than-healthy work environment. And as the person at the top, she has to own that. 

And we all know that her efforts at the border have not gone well from a PR perspective, at all. But we have to remember that just because this administration’s successes, and there have been many, have been attributed to Biden, that doesn’t mean that Harris had nothing to do with them. And that’s where Biden really needs to step up. He absolutely must begin elevating Harris publicly and providing her with more opportunities to visibly succeed than vice presidents traditionally enjoy.

Now, I believe that Kamala Harris would make an excellent president should the need arise. But given the already outsized challenges she faces, Biden’s team has got to do a better job of amplifying her voice and giving her credit where it’s due.

Joe Biden has a Kamala Harris problem. I think we all know this. Everyone is super hyper aware of his age and hyper aware that the vice president could very well end up being the president. He’s healthy and the man has just bizarro energy, but this is just statistics, which by the way, must be so bizarre having the world discussing the probability of your imminent death, like on the nightly news, but that’s a different subject I suppose.

[EDITOR: USE TAKE 2]
The thing we hear the most is that Harris hasn’t done anything. Now I am of the firm belief that a great deal of the public perception of her is based in just rampant misogyny and racism, because I don’t know I just don’t really recall being blown away by the accomplishments of any vice president in recent memory. My primary recollection of Biden when he was a VP was just that he was so unwaveringly supportive of Obama. And that’s what they’re there for. They’re there to advise and to support, And my feeling is that if I don’t hear much about the VP, they’re probably getting their job done. Harris is being held to a higher standard here, just as she has been for the entirety of her career.

Look, Kamala Harris is qualified for the presidency. She spent two decades as a public servant.
She was the first black woman to be elected District Attorney in California’s history, the first woman to be California’s Attorney General, the first Indian-American senator, and the first black woman and Asian-American to be a vice president. Just, just think for a moment about the obstacles that she had to overcome to make any of those remarkable achievements possible.
Now, they’re absolutely valid critiques of Harris’s performance. She’s made some public gaffes that drew outsized press attention — again, racism and sexism were involved here. Her team has had some management issues, and there have been complaints of a less-than-healthy work environment. And as the person at the top she has to own that.
And we all know that her efforts at the border have not gone well from a PR perspective, at all. But we have to remember that just because this administration successes, and there have been many, have been attributed to Biden, that doesn’t mean that Harris had nothing to do with them. And that’s where Biden really needs to step up. He absolutely must begin elevating Harris publicly and providing her with more opportunities to visibly succeed than vice presidents traditionally enjoy.

Now, I believe that Kamala Harris would make an excellent president should the need arise. But given the already outsized challenges she faces, Biden’s team has got to do a better job of amplifying her voice and giving her credit where it’s due.

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