With Joe Biden, 80, already having been the oldest to become president, the lack of confidence in Vice President Kamala Harris is a burgeoning issue for Democrats hoping to keep the White House after 2024.
Those who fear Biden might eventually have to hand off the baton need confidence in Harris.
"Right now, she seems to be an albatross," a state Democratic Party chair told CNN, citing sagging poll numbers for both Biden and Harris.
"She's either going to be a liability or a help. And you better embrace her because it's not like she's going to be off the ticket."
Recently, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., raised a furor among Democrats for saying the choice for vice president is Biden's — as some say that as a sign she might not believe Harris is the right choice. Warren's camp rejected that thinking, but the mere furor raised a flag for CNN.
Illinois Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a potential post-Biden White House presidential candidate, said the lack of confidence in Harris might actually be political opportunism.
"People who are denigrating her are aggrandizing themselves," he told CNN.
Another Democrat operative suggests surviving harsh criticism ultimately makes Harris stronger for the party.
"It's gone from the negative, 'We can’t have her be weak,' to the positive, 'She must be a force, and she's demonstrated that she can be,'" the operative told CNN.
The vice president is always in a Catch-22, according to Rev. Al Sharpton.
"If she shines too much, then she's overshadowing the president," Sharpton told CNN. "If she doesn't overshadow or shine too much, she can't rise to the occasion."
Political opportunists cling to anything to move forward in the Democratic Party, a Harris aide told CNN.
"Folks are going to take shots because folks would hope to see themselves where she stands," the aide said. "The trap is to get distracted by that."
Also, her race and gender have significance, according to South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, R-S.C., who helped Biden turn around his 2020 Democrat primary fate from also-ran to frontrunner.
"She'll never be a normal VP," Clyburn told CNN. "My goodness, she's the first African American VP. She's the first Asian American VP. This is the first female VP, having to be normal. How can it be normal? It's never going to be normal."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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