The reason why Sen. Harris will be so important has nothing to do with Biden's age. There have been no indications that he is not on top of the job or planning to be fully engaged. We've seen the opposite over the past month. As President Donald Trump continues with his dangerous game of trying to overturn the election, Biden has moved quickly to announce top-tier cabinet nominations and lay out an agenda for the first few months of his term.
Then why should we expect Harris to be a big deal? Most important, vice presidents have been steadily gaining power and influence since Walter Mondale served under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981.
As the new CNN Films documentary "President in Waiting" (premiering Saturday night) reveals, vice presidents have come a long way since John Nance Garner compared the job to a "warm bucket of piss" or when Teddy Roosevelt said that "I would a great deal rather be anything, say professor of history, than Vice-President."
Since Mondale's time, most vice presidents have been formidable figures. Under President Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush played a major role in shaping foreign policy in Central America and with the Soviet Union. Vice President Al Gore helped guide the North American Free Trade Agreement through Congress and was an architect of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Vice President Dick Cheney became legendary for his strong hand in President George W. Bush's post-9/11 counterterrorism programs as well as the disastrous war in Iraq. And Biden himself worked on President Barack Obama's 2009 stimulus bill and pushed back when the administration moved to increase troops in Afghanistan.
Biden's public support for gay marriage was a game changer in Washington, leading his boss to eventually do the same. The only exception to this trend has been Vice President Dan Quayle, who served under President Bush.
As an experienced senator, Harris will be able to help Biden solidify support within the Democratic Caucus for his legislative proposals. While Harris does not have the kind of deep reservoir of experience as Lyndon Johnson did when he served under President John F. Kennedy in 1961, she does have strong ties to her colleagues in the upper chamber and a familiarity with the process that will be essential in this age of dysfunction and polarization.
Indeed, the Biden-Harris team brings to the Oval Office a level of legislative experience that we have not witnessed since Johnson was president with Hubert Humphrey at his side. Given the kind of obstruction that we should expect from Sen. Mitch McConnell — as Majority or Minority leader — as well as divisions between progressive and moderate Democrats, Harris' role will be essential.
As vice president, Harris can claim an unusually broad range of policy expertise. As Attorney General of California, she became well-versed in different aspects of the urgent debate we are having over criminal justice reform as well as consumer protection, voting rights, and LGBT rights. In the US Senate, she has worked on intelligence, foreign policy, and judicial issues. She has also promoted legislation for climate change and immigration. In other words, she is well versed on most of the questions, including the pandemic, that will be coming in Biden's way in the years ahead.
And Harris brings enormous symbolic value to the administration. Following four years where a president has played to White backlash politics and doubled down on a partisan strategy aimed primarily at White rural men, having the first Indian and Black American in the job, someone who is married to a Jewish American and part of a blended family, represents an element of the Democratic Party that they want to keep reminding voters of.
The party is closer to where much of the nation is at a personal level than the GOP. Harris demonstrates that the Democrats have moved with a nation that has become more pluralistic and diverse. Her prominence in the daily work of the White House will be a constant reminder of this to voters — and a contrast to the last four years.
So, expect a great deal from the vice president-elect. Whether or not she is the next president is beside the point. For now, we should expect her to join the likes of Mondale, Bush, Gore, Cheney and Biden. Harris, as vice president, will leave a huge mark in Washington.
"Opinion" - Google News
December 05, 2020 at 10:53PM
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Expect big things from Kamala Harris - CNN
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