Kamala Harris was supposed to be the shining light of this White House. She was the young, energetic woman of color who was to bring the fire and electricity to an administration headed by a bumbling old dude who's been in Washington for five decades and is often caught staring into space with his pupils dilated to the size of soup bowls.
But, just five months into the Biden presidency and it's hard not to conclude that Vice President Kamala Harris is the most embarrassing and ineffectual member of an administration with very few high profile players.
It's easy to focus on her fumbling of the border crisis... and we will focus on that in a bit. But, let's not forget, last night's stinging defeat of so-called "voter reform" in the United States Senate was to be Ms. Harris's triumphant moment.
Just three weeks ago, Biden tapped Harris to run point on making a case for the controversial federal power grab known as "HR1" or the "For the People Act."
"With her leadership and your support, we're going to overcome again, I promise you, but it's going to take a hell of a lot of work," Biden said at the time.
When Biden selected Harris to take a leadership role for the administration on HR1, the Senate was split 50-50 on the legislation. When Harris, herself, announced the vote tally last night while performing her sole constitutional duty presiding over the Senate, the vote was 50-50.
In other words: She accomplished exactly nothing.
Can anyone, anyone, tell me what, exactly, Ms. Harris did in the intervening 22 days to make the case and lead the way on this piece of legislation? Anyone?
Did she make any major trip or speech? Did she even lobby any of the senators who were still wavering on the issue? Did she negotiate with any Republicans to figure out what parts (if any) could be compromised on to move HR1 closer to reality? Did she even go on television to face a friendly interviewer on cable news to make a case for this bill?
Now, let's get back to the border crisis, as Harris has announced today that she will finally make the much-anticipated visit to the US-Mexico border to see for herself the dire consequences brought on by President Biden's churlish temper-tantrum move of reversing every effective policy implemented by President Trump because Orange Man Bad.
The problem is, she has already set herself up for failure with this trip before she even boards Air Force Two.
Harris has spent months flailing around the issue of a border trip with testy, contentious, and moronic responses to friendly media inquiries about her mysterious lack of interest in traveling to the scene of the immigration crime.
From her "I haven't been to Europe" snap at Lester Holt, to her continuous stream-of-conscious assertions that a border trip would be a hollow "grand gesture" that wouldn't actually get to the "root causes" of the crisis, Harris has already telegraphed that her just-announced trip is, in her own words, nothing more than a hollow grand gesture that will accomplish nothing.
You see what she did there?
She wants credit for going to the border while she has just spent the past several months deriding the idea that going to the border was even necessary. She called it a "grand gesture" that would accomplish nothing and, therefore, we should take her at her word.
The headlines should read, "Harris Announces Grand Gesture That Will Accomplish Nothing."
The fact is, if Harris wants to get to the root of the border crisis, she should walk down the hall of the West Wing and talk to the Big Guy. Hey Kamala, the call is coming from inside the house!
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