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MARCH 7, 2023

Meyerson on TAP

The Kamala Conundrum

Keeping her on the ticket is a problem. Getting her off the ticket is a
problem.

One of the by-products of Joe Biden's very probable decision to seek
re-election at an advanced age is the unprecedented prominence it places
on his vice-presidential running mate.

Turns out, that's a helluva by-product.

No previous president or even major party nominee has ever sought (or
resought) the office in a situation in which voters must weigh the odds
on that candidate's health, or even continued existence, if elected.
That means-and it

**will** mean in 2024-that the vice-presidential running mate will
figure into voters' calculations in a way that it never has
previously, and that the veep nominee has a greater potential to help or
hurt the ticket than, perhaps, ever before.

Which brings us to Kamala Harris.

While parties usually direct their fire at the other party's
presidential pick, there's absolutely no question that the Republicans
will go all out against Harris nearly as much as they will against Biden
(and Hunter and transgender kids and all the rest). As a Black woman who
was first elected to office by the voters of godforsaken San Francisco,
Harris already has way more than three strikes against her among
Republicans-not that Biden is going to get their votes no matter who
his running mate will be. But does Harris have any political identity at
all with swing voters, or the public at large, that could lead them to
conclude she could step up to the presidency if Biden fell into an open
manhole and was never seen again?

Like Lear, Harris can argue that she's "more sinned against than
sinning." In a ranking of Biden administration visibility, she's well
below Tony Blinken, Janet Yellen, Pete Buttigieg, the departed Ron
Klain, and sundry others. She played no visible role in Biden's
historic legislative victories. How much of this is the
administration's fault and how much is her own deficiencies I cannot
say. Her failed presidential run in 2019 (she didn't make it to 2020)
argues, however, for the deficiencies, and it's hard to find
Democratic pols or liberal activists who spring to her defense, either
in general or because she played a crucial role promoting or defending a
progressive cause.

That said, dropping her from the ticket would create problems of its
own-and how. So, what's a President Biden to do?

In Sunday's

**New York Times**, Greg Craig, who served as Barack Obama's White
House counsel, suggested
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that he do what Franklin Roosevelt did in 1944. In the face of
widespread intraparty opposition to his sitting vice president Henry
Wallace, who was considered too far left and too susceptible to woo-woo
mysticism by two of the Democrats' three major power bases-the
big-city machines and the white South (the third, labor, liked
him)-Roosevelt expressed a nominal preference for Wallace but made
clear the choice was up to the national convention delegates, who
proceeded to nominate Harry Truman. In the clear knowledge that
today's primary voters view themselves, and not convention delegates,
to be the deciders, Craig suggested in effect that 2024 primary voters
be permitted to vote on their vice-presidential pick.

It's an excellent suggestion, but I don't see how it can work. A
whole series of party rules and state laws would need to be changed
almost immediately, which I don't see happening. The default solution,
if solution it be, is the 1944 option. If polls show Harris to be a real
drag on the ticket, the delegates may have to take matters into their
own hands.

When the 1944 delegates ousted Wallace, Roosevelt gave him the
consolation prize of a Cabinet post (Commerce). Biden would have to do
something equivalent, or better, for Harris. Should a Supreme Court
vacancy open up, that would be one option. That improbable option
failing, there's always the Cabinet, though nothing short of State
might be required.

Any of these options-not least, renominating Harris-likely comes
with a major political downside. Such are the by-products of seeking to
stay in the Oval Office until age 86.

~ HAROLD MEYERSON

Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter <[link removed]>

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The American Rescue Plan's Hidden Triumphs
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Medicaid expansion in North Carolina and Eli Lilly's insulin price
cuts are largely due to the March 2021 law. BY DAVID DAYEN

After East Palestine, 'Bomb Trains'?
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A proposed merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern
would facilitate shipments of tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of
Mexico. BY LUKE GOLDSTEIN

Laughing Through the Pain
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A new comedy special brings to light the relationship between race,
poverty, and mental trauma. BY RAMENDA CYRUS

The Trans Panic II
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The Left Anchor hosts continue the discussion about the ongoing frenzy
of transphobia. BY PROSPECT STAFF

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