Biden’s Unsolvable Problem – Kalamata Harris

Biden’s Unsolvable Problem – Kalamata Harris

The knives are out for Vice-president Kalamata Harris (D). No, not the Republican knives. . . well, yes but they’re already old, dull and ineffective. No, it’s the knives of the Democrats and their publicists in the mainstream media. It is going to be “death by a thousand cuts.”

Most of the time a Vice-President of the United States is like having a one-iron in your golf bag – it’s there but it useless. Former Vice-president John Nance Garner (Cactus Jack Garner) said that the vice-presidency “wasn’t worth a bucket of warm p###” – the statement was cleaned up by the press to read “wasn’t worth a bucket of warm spit.” The point being the principle duty of the vice-president was to wait for the president to die – beyond that (s)he served as a ceremonial stand in for a variety of local events. There have been good vice-presidents (Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, George H.W. Bush and Michael Pence) and bad vice-presidents (Spiro Agnew, Albert Gore, Dan Quayle, Joe Biden) and there have even been controversial vice-presidents (Dick Cheney). Some times they were picked to add political balance, or to add military or foreign relations expertise.

But there was never a time when the person was selected based solely on the color of their skin or their gender. Not once. Not until until President Joe Biden (D) chose Kalamata Harris – a woman with no evidence of competence beyond being the playmate of a powerful Democrat politico and the ability to get elected to successive offices in which she failed to accomplish anything. (Ms. Harris has admitted that having a long term affair with the married San Francisco Mayor Willy Brown (D) was the worst time in her life. She should be careful because but for that affair Ms. Harris would still be a below average prosecutor in a California district attorney’s office.) Ms. Harris tried her hand at running for the presidency itself and was so universally disdained that she ran sixth in her own home state of California before being among the first to drop out of the race. Ms. Harris is a person of color, and a woman, which at first blush, appeared to be the sole criteria for her selection. Her performance in office has confirmed that initial assessment. In previous columns I have noted about Ms. Harris:

“Ms. Harris is a prime example of someone who remains studiously ignorant of the facts . . . [and that] that kind of superficiality has not taught her how woefully ignorant she remains.” [Bracketed words added]

Her interview responses have been branded word salad. Her nervous cackling is a product of being unprepared – she refuses to do the necessary work to learn. And her arrogance has left members of her staff in tears and the remainder in flight. She has been given assignment after assignment and an unlimited authority to accomplish them and has failed at each and every one. And in characteristic fashion Ms. Harris blames everyone for her failures – everyone but the woman in the mirror. BUT. . . . .

The BUT is that the Democrat Party, having succumbed to the demands of the far left to put color and gender over competence and character, has a huge problem in trying to rid itself of the embarrassment that is Ms. Harris. And the problem exists at several different levels.

In the first instance, it isn’t just the Republicans and most of America that fear that should Mr. Biden’s physical or cognitive health continue to decline, the Twenty-fifth Amendment automatically elevates Ms. Harris to be President of the United States. What was once whispered among the Democrat power brokers has now broken into the open. What was once purposely buried by the Democrats’ publicity arm – the mainstream media – is now discussed openly and with growing disdain. Ms. Harris is not competent to serve as President of the United States. On February 6, 2023, KATV (an ABC affiliate) reported:

“Several top Democrats appear to be questioning the political prowess of Vice President Kamala Harris going into the second half of the Biden administration’s first term.

“According to The Times, two Democrats it spoke with recalled private conversations they had with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who reportedly told them she felt Harris lacked ‘the political instincts to clear a primary field.’”

According to GBH news service, failed 2020 Democrat primary aspirant, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)* in softball interview on a Massachusetts PBS station responded to questions about the 2024 Democrat presidential ticket:

“Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to see President Joe Biden seek reelection next year, but wouldn’t say whether Vice President Kamala Harris should again join him on the Democratic ticket.

“Asked on Boston Public Radio Friday if Biden, 80, should run for a second term in 2024, Warren was quick with her answer.

‘Yes. He should run again,’ Warren said. ‘And he is running again.

“Her response to a follow-up question of whether Harris should be his running mate was less concrete.

“I really want to defer to what makes Biden comfortable on his team,’ she said. ‘I’ve known Kamala for a long time. I like Kamala. I knew her back when she was an attorney general and I was still teaching and we worked on the housing crisis together, so we go way back. But they need — they have to be a team, and my sense is they are — I don’t mean that by suggesting I think there are any problems. I think they are.’”

And the New York Times – the Democrats’ leading advocate – opined a week ago:

“Members of Congress, Democratic strategists and other major party figures all said she had not made herself into a formidable leader.”

When the Democrat leaders and the New York Times enter even a mild rebuke of fellow Democrats – particularly of a Democrat President or Vice-president – you know that their gut level view is that Ms. Harris is a disaster. And they would be right.

At another level, the Biden team understands that forcing Ms. Harris out needs to be done now. Waiting until the middle of 2024 at the Democrat National Convention will be difficult and even if successful will leave Ms. Harris in the Vice-President’s office for another six months where she would be able to cause all sorts of problems. And forcing her out will be seen by other Democrats through the lens of identity politics – discrimination against women, discrimination against people of color – when, in fact, it would just be discrimination against incompetence. (And that might raise a whole other set of questions about Mr. Biden himself.)

To force Ms. Harris out, they would have to find another position which would be considered equal to, or greater than, Vice-President. There is always the possibility that she might be offered an international role but even in the case when it is the United States turn to appoint, the general body would have to approve. (Mr. Biden is held in such low esteem internationally that any number of countries would love to poke him in the eye by rejecting his nominee.) Then there is the United States Supreme Court – but not just any position on the Court. It would have to be the position of Chief Justice. With the Democrats now having a clear majority in the United States Senate, Mr. Biden’s nominees to the Court could be expected to be approved by a simple majority. I doubt that that is going to happen. The reason for appointing Ms. Harris would be so palpably political that members like Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Kirstin Sinema (I-AZ), Mark Warner (D-VA) and John Tester (D-MT) are likely to object. You may even find others like Sens. Chris Coons (D-DL) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) could not hold their nose long enough to avoid the stench of such a decision.

The final alternative would be to have the Federal Bureau of Investigation cook up a scandal worthy of impeachment. They are good at that – they have had practice. But impeachment requires a majority of the House of Representatives – which shouldn’t be hard considering the Republicans are now in control. However, conviction and removal requires two-thirds of the Senate and in such case, Mr. Biden would have to intervene to convince a sufficient number of Democrats to vote to convict – probably a near impossibility.

And even at that, Ms. Harris’ replacement as Vice-President would require a majority vote in both the House and the Senate. A nominee by Mr. Biden could probably pass muster in the Senate but the House is a different story. The progressive wing of the party would demand another candidate based on race and gender which would increase the resistance of the Republicans. While you might attract some Republicans to support a more moderate candidate based on competence and character, you would lose at least an identical number of the progressives.

It’s a mess. And nobody deserves it more than Mr. Biden for having created it.

And on the sideline sits former President Donald Trump (R) who has already entered the 2024 race salivating over the growing discontent over Mr. Biden magnified by the incompetence of Ms. Harris. In 2020 Mr. Biden rode to victory as the “nice guy” alternative to Mr. Trump. All those who hated Mr. Trump and voted for Mr. Biden for that reason gave Mr. Biden the impetus for victory. The same will not be true in 2020. Dissatisfaction with Mr. Biden will not translate into support for Mr. Trump. It is more likely to result in a third-party nominee who will drain support from both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump but not in sufficient numbers that (s)he will be elected. In the end, this may result in the Congress choosing the next President should there be a tie in the number of electors (Electoral College) held by opposing candidates. Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution)

The alternative would be to give her a lot of money – serious money – Hillary Clinton level money, Nancy Pelosi level money. And while Mr. Biden has donors who have put up the money to bail his son out of his tax evasion issues, it is doubtful they would put up $200 Million for Ms. Harris. Even if you tied the money to the presidency of some Ivy League school – like the University of Pennsylvania.** Or if the Chinese Communist Party could be convinced to throw some more money to help Mr. Biden again.

You might say that is an instance in which the liberal/progressives are caught “between the devil and the deep blue sea, or “between a rock and a hard place.” But in truth as Mr. Biden follows the woke agenda it is probably more analogous to a “fool and his money”

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* After, probably considerable whining from Ms. Harris’ publicists, Ms. Warren noted she fully supports Ms. Harris. Sure she does. That is until she doesn’t again.

** There is an empty suite of offices available at the Penn Biden Center since Mr. Biden closed his offices there.