U.S. President Joe Biden looks on as Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md. on Aug. 15.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty Images
Until President Joe Biden gave in to the pressure from within his own party to relinquish his quest for a second term, Kamala Harris had largely been written off, even by Democrats.
The Vice-President had faced the worst media coverage of any second-in-command since Dan Quayle. Not even Dick Cheney, a.k.a. Darth Vader, got less respect from the press than her. From her bid for the 2020 Democratic nomination, which flopped spectacularly, to her rocky vice-presidential tenure, Ms. Harris systematically raised doubts about her political skills, judgment and authenticity.
After making her reputation as a “smart-on-crime” prosecutor to become California’s attorney-general, and later a U.S. senator, she tacked far to the left during her first presidential bid by supporting the Green New Deal, a ban on fracking, universal public health care and decriminalization of illegal border crossings. None of these policies made it into the 2020 Biden-Harris platform.
Ms. Harris, who, in 2021, had been entrusted by Mr. Biden to deal with the illegal immigration file, royally flubbed her first big interview as VP. When NBC’s Lester Holt asked why she had not visited the border, she defensively shot back: “At some point, you know, I, we are going to the border. We’ve been to the border. So, this whole, this whole – this whole thing about the border. We’ve been to the border. We’ve been to the border.” Mr. Holt politely reminded her that she had not.
During her first three years as Vice-President, Ms. Harris blew through staff faster than your average McDonald’s. Only four of her office’s 47 initial staffers were still working for her in March, according to Open The Books, a government transparency watchdog. Ex-employees made unflattering comments to the media about their treatment. One even called her a “bully.”
In early 2023, The New York Times published a scathing article on Ms. Harris’s performance. Few Democrats had anything good to say about her then. Rather, the Times asserted, most “said she had not risen to the challenge of proving herself as a future leader of the party, much less the country.” Even her own advisers “confided privately that they had lost hope in her.”
In October, a 9,000-word article in The Atlantic, titled “The Kamala Harris Problem,” had quotes from Mr. Biden’s then chief of staff, Ron Klain, and former Barack Obama adviser David Axelrod, about her “risk aversion” and not knowing “where to plant her feet.” Hardly ringing endorsements.
It is fair to say that Ms. Harris also faced racism and sexism, and the ugly online alt-right attacks on her surpassed what most politicians must endure, even by today’s pathetic standards for public discourse. But the most damaging criticism of Ms. Harris came from fellow Democrats and those who had worked with her.
If you contrast the above with the fawning coverage Ms. Harris has received since Mr. Biden bowed out of the race, you are left with a serious case of cognitive dissonance. The mainstream U.S. media have largely ignored questions about Ms. Harris’s past performance and policy positions. They have succumbed to a form of Harrismania.
To be sure, the enthusiasm for Ms. Harris’s candidacy among the Democratic base is real. That a Black and South Asian woman has made it to the top of a presidential ticket is reason in itself for some giddiness. And polls show Ms. Harris is narrowly leading Republican nominee Donald Trump in most of the swing states that will decide the election. Mr. Biden was trailing him.
But to win in November, Ms. Harris will need to do more than coast on her newfound image as the fun candidate with a fun former football coach as her running mate.
Most Americans are not really in the mood for fun these days. They are pessimistic about the economy and the security of their country.
Voters in seven battleground states trust Mr. Trump more than Ms. Harris to deal with the border crisis, the economy and inflation, according to a Cook Political Report poll released this week. The gap is narrower – but still in Mr. Trump’s favour – on the question of tackling crime and violence. And Ms. Harris has a commanding lead over Mr. Trump when it comes to dealing with abortion, health care and social security.
Asked which candidate they think would be likely to cause long-term damage to the country, 51 per cent of swing-state voters said Mr. Trump, 49 per cent Ms. Harris. But American voters already know who Mr. Trump is; they are just getting to know Ms. Harris. The tables could turn quickly if Ms. Harris faces tougher media scrutiny.
The wall-to-wall coverage of next week’s Democratic National Convention might add to Ms. Harris’s momentum for a couple more weeks. After that, watch out.