Republicans and right-wing media turned Harris into a political target from the moment she was picked for the ticket. Barack Obama’s West Wing tended to be dismissive of Biden’s staffers (a number of whom are now with him in the West Wing), and Biden himself had a number of stumbles early in that job. Presidents and vice presidents and their staffs often clash. Harris is the first vice president in decades to come into office with less Washington experience than the president, and finding her footing was always going to be hard. The reality is more complex and looks different to people more familiar with how any White House actually works.
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Other politicians with their own presidential ambitions have started privately acknowledging that they are trying to figure out how to quietly lay the groundwork to run if and when Harris falters, as they think she might. But guessing who might launch a theoretical primary challenge to Harris has become an ongoing insider parlor game. “That’s where the frustration is coming from.”Īn incumbent vice president should be a shoo-in the next time the party’s presidential nomination is open.
“It is natural that those of us who know her know how much more helpful she can be than she is currently being asked to be,” Kounalakis said. Kounalakis spoke with the vice president last Monday morning before Harris departed for a diplomatic mission to France. 2 is to be helpful and supportive to the President and to take on work that he asks her to take on,” said Eleni Kounalakis, the lieutenant governor of California and a longtime friend. “She’s very honored and very proud to be vice president of the United States. She’s perceived to be in such a weak position that top Democrats in and outside of Washington have begun to speculate privately, asking each other why the White House has allowed her to become so hobbled in the public consciousness, at least as they see it. That chatter has already reached top levels of the Biden orbit, according to one person who’s heard it. When they’re annoyed, some pass around a recent Onion story mocking her lack of more substantive work, one with the headline, “White House Urges Kamala Harris To Sit At Computer All Day In Case Emails Come Through.” When they’re depressed, they bat down the Aaron Sorkin-style rumor that Biden might try to replace her by nominating her to a Supreme Court vacancy. Being the first woman, and first woman of color, in national elected office is historic but has also come with outsized scrutiny and no forgiveness for even small errors, as she’ll often point out.ĭefenders and people who care for Harris are getting frantic. Harris is struggling with a rocky relationship with some parts of the White House, while long-time supporters feel abandoned and see no coherent public sense of what she’s done or been trying to do as vice president. Or she’ll be a critical validator in three years for a President trying to get the country to reelect him to serve until he’s 86.įew of the insiders who spoke with CNN think she’s being well-prepared for whichever role it will be. She could be just a year away from launching a presidential campaign of her own, given doubts throughout the political world that Biden will actually go through with a reelection bid in 2024, something he’s pledged to do publicly and privately.
She’s a heartbeat away from the presidency now. And those around her remain wary of even hinting at future political ambitions, with Biden’s team highly attuned to signs of disloyalty, particularly from the vice president. The vice president herself has told several confidants she feels constrained in what she’s able to do politically. Many in the vice president’s circle fume that she’s not being adequately prepared or positioned, and instead is being sidelined. Interviews with nearly three dozen former and current Harris aides, administration officials, Democratic operatives, donors and outside advisers – who spoke extensively to CNN – reveal a complex reality inside the White House. Worn out by what they see as entrenched dysfunction and lack of focus, key West Wing aides have largely thrown up their hands at Vice President Kamala Harris and her staff – deciding there simply isn’t time to deal with them right now, especially at a moment when President Joe Biden faces quickly multiplying legislative and political concerns.
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