President Biden knew full well Vice President Kamala Harris was “not up to the task” of commander-in-chief — and he preferred Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as his running mate in 2020 before bowing to public pressure, according to a new book released Tuesday.
Biden chose Harris days before that year’s virtual Democratic National Convention after promising to elect a woman and after pro-Harris lobbying from former President Barack Obama, veteran Washington reporter Charlie Spiering wrote in his book “Amateur Hour: Kamala Harris in the White House.”
While the 59-year-old Harris is only “one brain out of the presidency,” his “many struggles and mistakes during his first years in office were the most important” for the now 81-year-old president heading into office. re-election campaign, Spiering wrote.
President Biden knew Vice President Kamala Harris was “not up to the job” of commander-in-chief — and he chose Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer as his running mate in 2020. Getty Images Biden chose Harris under pressure from former President Barack Obama, veteran Washington reporter Charlie Spiering wrote in his book “Amateur Hour: Kamala Harris in the White House.” Simon & Schuster
Those issues included “bullying” White House staffers and “refusal to be a team player” with the rest of the administration — as well as his “fake” public presence, his famous laugh and near-constant “word salad.” fail to deliver any kind of message.
The ongoing resignation from the veep has come as a result of “soul-destroying criticism,” one former staffer lamented to the Washington Post in late 2021 — an event that forced him to stop using his favorite curse word: “motherf —er.”
The “funny, incompetent, trail-blazing radical” had a “bad, funny first few years as vice president,” Spiering added, noting his limited power as border czar of the Biden administration.
In the summer of 2020, Whitmer lobbied for Harris following a racial justice protest — but Biden “called her and urged her to stay in the fellowship while she considered her options.” Reuters
But nearly four years later, Biden is in the middle of another campaign with the same running mate and asking the question that has become “a popular living room game in Washington”: “How do you fix Kamala Harris?”
The book said that Harris was also not the choice of Biden’s wife, Jill, who favored former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice for the role and was furious to shut out supporters after a bitter Democratic primary debate that the California senator should “go—” himself.
Harris blasted Biden during the June 2019 debate for touting his ability to work across the aisle with segregationist senators during the 1970s, adding that while he believed the longtime Delaware senator was “not racist,” his remarks “hurt” given his experience personal. .
Four years later, Biden was in the middle of another campaign with the same running mate and asked the question that has become “a popular living room game in Washington”: “How do you fix Kamala Harris?” AFP via Getty Images
“You also work with them to oppose busing,” Harris said, explaining that he had been part of the second class to integrate his public school while growing up in Berkeley, Calif.
Although Harris suspended her presidential campaign a few months later, she remained the only black woman in the US Senate and later “seized the opportunity to raise her profile” after the death of George Floyd in May 2020 at the hands of Minneapolis police.
The protests and riots that followed Floyd’s death and continued throughout the summer of 2020 began to shift opinion to the fact that Biden’s eventual running mate was a black woman, not just any woman.
The widespread summer 2020 riots and protests that followed began to shift talk that the eventual VP pick for Biden would not only be a woman but a black woman. AFP via Getty Images
Whitmer had been lobbying for Harris in the wake of the Floyd turmoil — but Biden reportedly “called her and urged her to stay in the mix as she considers her options.”
“As Biden remains undecided, a key Harris ally is trying to convince him of Harris’ VP idea: his former boss, President Barack Obama, who is already a fan,” Spiering wrote.
“Behind the scenes, Obama patiently reminded Biden to let go of the past when making his decision. One of Obama’s political advisors [sic] assured me that the former president no longer fully supported him, ensuring that the choice was in Biden’s hands.”
Instead, “Harris barely contained his impatience and contempt for the president” when they were together in office, he added, while “reading rants off a teleprompter” during public events. AFP via Getty Images
As a former vice president himself, Biden realized Harris “lacked” the necessary political skills but ended up making “one of the most exciting decisions of any vice presidential pick in modern history,” in Spiering’s words.
In return, “Harris could barely contain his impatience and contempt for the president” when they were together in office, he added, while “reading rants off a teleprompter” during his own public events.
With less than 300 days until the general election, Harris “remains in the same place despite several attempts to reset the narrative and exercises while on the job” and “is not in a position to take over for Biden and lead the Democratic Party going forward.”
Harris was also not the choice of Biden’s wife, Jill, who chose former national security adviser Susan Rice for the role. AP
There’s also “no way” the Biden-Harris ticket can be reshuffled without the president’s campaign “admitting a big mistake,” according to Spiering.
“Once you’ve been found ineligible, there’s little you can do to change people’s minds,” he wrote.
“Mistakes coupled with mistakes only cement his reputation and there is little room for sympathy when you reach that level of power. There is a lot of negative conversation behind the scenes, but few dare to speak out, for fear of being labeled as racist or sexist.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
