When US President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid last week, this question suddenly came up. Biden is 79 years old, he belongs to the group of people for whom a Covid infection could be dangerous. The question was: Is his Vice President, Kamala Harris, ready to take over the highest office in the state if Biden were to die? Not a completely unreasonable thought: Eight vice presidents moved into the White House because the president died in office.
The question of whether Harris is ready has hardly ever been discussed publicly, because while Biden sometimes seems a little dodder, he hardly ever gives the impression that he is physically out of shape. He recently fell off his bike, but then got back up so quickly that the incident seemed more like a testament to his fitness. In connection with the question of whether Harris would be ready, a second question arose: What does Kamala Harris actually do all day long?
The vice president has recently made a number of speeches attacking Republicans on abortion, but has otherwise remained remarkably aloof from the public eye. Some observers in Washington believe there is a strategy behind it. Harris speculates that Biden will not run for president again in 2024, and as a rule, if the person who holds the vice presidency wants the presidential nomination, they get it. According to speculation, Harris’ plan could be to stay away from Biden, who is currently unpopular, so as not to damage his own reputation.
Hillary Clinton’s name is popping up again for the Democrats
Biden recovered quickly from his infection, but questions about Harris lingered. Not only is the media asking if she has what it takes to be president, it’s mostly asking who else in the Democratic Party might run because Harris isn’t particularly popular. Political adviser Douglas Schoen came up with perhaps the most original idea in these debates. He believes that a certain Hillary Clinton should lead the Democrats in the 2024 presidential campaign. Clinton is 74 years old and has largely retired from politics after her surprise election defeat to Donald Trump in 2016.
The fact that Harris is so little trusted that even the Clinton name is involved again is often justified by the fact that she has comparatively little experience in federal politics. When Biden made her his number two, she had been in the Senate less than four years. However, the same could be said of many vice presidents and even presidents throughout history. Barack Obama, for example, who won the 2008 presidential election, was only elected to the Senate in 2005. Harris is, it seems, measured with particularly strict standards. Some observers suspect that this has less to do with their experience and more to do with the notorious misogyny in American politics.