Critics of Kamala Harris continue to knock me out, bowl me over and simply slay me with their line of criticism.
It goes something like this: What has she done in the nearly four years she has served as VP in the Biden administration?
They contend that she’s been little more than a potted plant in Cabinet meetings, in the Situation Room, or any Oval Office conference led by President Biden.
Biden, of course, says she has been a vital member of his inner circle.
Here’s something we all need to ponder: The US Constitution purposely created the vice presidency with no actual power. All the VP can do under the law is break tie votes in the US Senate, where the VP serves as presiding officer. Vice President Harris has been called upon to break those tie votes when a sharply divided, even-steven Senate cannot find a majority vote to enact legislation.
President Obama has said many times over the years that Vice President Biden often was the last person to leave a Cabinet meeting and Biden often would tell Obama where he disagreed with a policy decision. Obama said he valued that disagreement, as it helped him maintain some level of perspective.
Biden has said much the same thing about Harris.
Biden has asked Harris to be his point person on reproductive rights and on border security issues. As near as I can tell, she has done well on both matters.
Does she have any real authority? No more than any of the men who preceded her. I will say, though, that the office is far more than what that crusty Texan, Vice President John Nance Garner, described of the office he held under FDR.
It is far more worthwhile than a “bucket of warm piss.”
And it has prepared Kamala Harris for the next — and final — step toward the pinnacle of power.
