US Presidential 2024: “Kamala Harris is about to play the role of her life”

With cascading declarations of candidacy on the Republican side – Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Halley, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Asa Hutchinson, Larry Elder – the American presidential campaign is well underway. On the Democratic side, Joe Biden, 80, is back for a ballot where, because of the president’s age, his running mate, Kamala Harris, 58, will play a decisive role. However, the vice-president remains an enigma, as Alexis Buisson writes, in Kamala Harris, the heiress (L’Archipel)* about this woman whom many discovered in 2019 when she herself had embarked on the primary.

“First woman to become vice-president of the United States, Californian, daughter of Indian and Jamaican parents, raised in the Baptist and Hindu traditions, married to a New York Jew, Kamala Harris embodies the American melting pot” , writes the author, a press correspondent based in the United States for fifteen years. But in a fractured society, she remains a divisive character. Chosen for her profile able to seduce the African-American electorate, she has not yet convinced the opinion, neither by her actions, nor by her speeches. However, his role will be essential in the uncertain campaign that is starting these days. For Joe Biden, the former attorney general is an asset and a weakness.

L’Express: What conclusions can be drawn from the vice-presidency of Kamala Harris?

Alexis Buisson: She had trouble finding her place at the beginning, especially with her famous trip to Central America which sparked violent criticism: she, the daughter of immigrants, had then declared that Latino migrants should refrain from come to the United States. This lack of tact defined his start in office. Then, the vice-president had difficulty positioning herself. It’s not just his fault. The post of vice-president is a job where one must step aside; where one is not meant to exist. And, for her, existing next to Joe Biden, who is a much more experienced politician than her, was inherently difficult.

To this was added the question of human resources within his office. There was a lot of turnover in his team, suggesting that the working atmosphere was bad. This further blurred his image. Today, it is gradually finding its place, particularly on issues that interest it, such as the question of access to voluntary termination of pregnancy, so much fought over in republican states. With this slot, she is addressing the female electorate in general, and in particular the independents who live in the suburbs of large cities and take a dim view of the radicalism of the Republican Party on this subject.

What is Kamala Harris’ relationship with Joe Biden?

Officially, they are very good. But behind the scenes, there were disputes between their teams early in the term. Kamala Harris’s entourage criticized the White House for not defending her enough against the criticisms of which she was the subject, including within the Democratic Party. As the election nears, the president is trying to further shield her from Republican attacks and make her more visible on the national and international stage. He includes it in his meetings. She is more present on the social networks of the White House. On Joe Biden’s campaign launch clip, she appears a dozen times. It’s a sign. In doing so, Biden is addressing Democrats. Some are disappointed with Kamala Harris and wonder what she’s been up to for two years.

Exactly what is it for?

Remember that she is not president. She is “only” Vice President of the United States. It is a bizarre function that does not exist in France where one is both close and far from power. It’s like a football player on the substitutes’ bench. It is a secondary role until he enters the field. Apart from a support and advisory role, it must be less visible and therefore does not have the opportunity to shine.

It was the same with Mike Pence with Donald Trump or Joe Biden himself in the time of Barack Obama. Biden was erased. What makes Kamala Harris important is her profile as a historical figure (first female vice president, and from an ethnic minority) and the fact that Joe Biden is 80 years old. We can never exclude that she will become president overnight. She is really “a heartbeat away from the White House”, as the saying goes. Another specificity: because of her historical profile, enormous expectations weighed on her shoulders when she took office. But these expectations were, in my opinion, disproportionate in view of what the position allows.

Could Joe Biden choose one or another vice-president for his second term?

In theory, yes, but it won’t. He has no good reason not to keep her. Ousting him would send a negative signal to the black community. It would be to admit that he made a mistake by choosing her during the previous campaign. Above all, Kamala Harris is not a bad vice-president. She may have made a few rookie mistakes, but she remained loyal to Joe Biden, defended his policy tooth and nail, never giving in to the temptation to distance herself and play it alone.

I insist: the job of vice-president is really impossible. For example: she took care of the thorny file of access to the vote for African Americans [entravé dans certains Etats républicains par des mesures compliquant l’accès aux bureaux de vote, NDLR] but in reality this falls within the competence of the States. Her most important role was as President of the Senate [aux Etats-Unis, le vice-président est aussi président du Sénat, NDLR] which gave him the right to decide between the Democrats and the Republicans who, until the midterm elections in November, controlled 50 seats each. She also began to exist on the international scene, during her travels abroad, in Europe, in Asia, in Africa.

How strong is Kamala Harris’ connection to the African-American community, knowing that she herself comes from a different background – her parents are from India and Jamaica?

In fact, she does not declare herself “African-American”. She describes herself as black. That being said, the African American community, especially women, identify with her. The real problem is his past as attorney general of San Francisco, then of California. This got her into trouble in 2020 with black youth and activists when the Black Lives Matter movement unearthed her repressive past. To be fair, it must be said that she was a prosecutor in a period when prison was the answer to everything.

That said, it has been quite innovative and avant-garde with a policy of alternative sentencing, in particular through the Back on Track program in 2005 which aimed to put young offenders back on the right track by offering them a second chance. On the other hand, she was intransigent on certain subjects, such as the absenteeism of students in San Francisco: she threatened the parents of children with prison if their offspring did not go to school. She was tough, sometimes even cruel. As attorney general, she was also the “first cop” in San Francisco, then in California. As such, she was on the side of the police. In short, sometimes it was “Madame Tape Dur”, sometimes she was progressive.

How will Kamala Harris, 2024 be different from 2020?

Vice-president, she now has the experience of power, at the very top of the federal state. And she has a record to defend: that of Joe Biden. To which is added an international stature that it did not have four years ago. I have no doubt that she built her CV day by day, with a view to being president one day. She always has that in mind. She knows she can become head of state at any time. Everyone thinks about it too. This is why it will be central to Joe Biden’s campaign. We will see her more than in 2020. Also, she will be the subject of ruthless attacks from the Republican camp who will insist on the fact that Joe Biden is very old and that he may not finish his term.

The right, more and more extremist, will agitate this scenario. The Republicans will seek to discredit Harris as much as possible, emphasizing his style and, also, his laughter which has the gift of annoying them. Basically, the vice president will be both an asset and a weakness for Biden’s campaign. His way of acting, his television performances will be decisive. She will be the most important vice-presidential candidate in decades. For what ? Because no candidate has ever been as old as Biden and therefore everyone will look to her as the potential president. With the election looming, Kamala Harris is set to play the part of her life.

Is Kamala Harris popular?

Not really, but politicians, in general, are less and less so. If Joe Biden is re-elected and completes his term, and if she too is a candidate in 2028, I am not convinced that she can win the Democratic primaries or the election, even if that date is very distant and that opinion can change. In fact, his greatest chance of reaching the White House is now, in the event that Joe Biden suffers a health problem, before or after his possible re-election.

* Kamala Harris The Heiress (The Archipelago), by Alexis Buisson, 251 p., €20.