Kamala’s Struggles

For almost a half century, the U.S. Naval Observatory has served as the official residence for the nation’s vice presidents and their families. But this may be the first time in which the most prominent and impactful political luminary in the family was not the nation’s second ranking elected official but rather the vice presidential spouse. 

In the past, figures such as Tipper Gore and Lynn Cheney created controversies while their husbands served in the VP job. But Douglas Emhoff’s star turn as the leader of last week’s White House roundtable on antisemitism was an unprecedented role for which America’s second gentleman deserves immense credit and enthusiastic applause. Emhoff’s success in convening the historic gathering and establishing himself as one of the most important national figures in the fight against anti-Jewish hatred stands in stark contrast to the struggles that his spouse has faced during her first two years in office. 

Kamala Harris stumbled early in her term during a high-stakes trip to Central America to address immigration policy, and many Washington observers believe that she has yet to regain her political footing. Democratic strategists worry openly about whether she could be an effective party standard-bearer if Biden were to choose not to seek reelection.

But while Harris has contributed to her problems with recurring verbal mishaps, in fairness many of her difficulties are due to circumstances beyond her control. Her first two assignments from the Biden White House were the no-win jobs of solving a worsening immigration crisis and of passing a partisan voting rights bill in a 50-50 Senate. (The president’s staff has also seemed very comfortable leaking what they see as Harris’ inadequacies to journalists covering her office.)

Broader forces and long-standing Washington customs are also conspiring against Harris. For most of the modern political era, the American people have tended to select outsiders and relative newcomers as their presidents. Donald Trump’s lack of political experience was an extreme example, but Governors Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all ran on pledges to change Washington, as did first-term Senator Barack Obama. 

In order to reassure voters that they would be able to govern effectively if elected, each of these outsider candidates turned to more established political leaders to serve as their running mates. Former Senators Walter Mondale, Al Gore, Joe Biden, and Mike Pence, former CIA Director George H.W. Bush and former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney all provided longer-term perspective to the new presidents, and the concept of a “wise old hand” as vice president became conventional wisdom in the nation’s capital.

Before Biden’s election in 2020, the only exception to this trend was Bush the elder, who, like Biden, had served eight years as vice president before winning the Oval Office. Neither Bush nor Biden needed someone with more experience than their own, and so both balanced their respective tickets by selecting a young up-and-comer to represent their party’s next generation of leadership.

Dan Quayle was a young conservative Senator from Indiana, who while largely unknown by the voting public outside of his own state, had gained respect on Capitol Hill for his knowledge of national defense policy. But since Bush had no need for a vice president to advise him on the ways of Washington, Quayle was quickly marginalized and ended up as ongoing target of disparaging jokes on late night television. When he ran for president a few years later, he made little impact as a second-tier candidate and dropped out of the race after the first few primaries.

Like Bush, Biden did not require a vice president to help him understand the federal government. And so like Quayle, Harris has struggled to find a useful role in this administration. Biden appears likely to seek a second term, which gives Harris ample time to find a role and voice in her office with which she is more comfortable. But at the midway point of the Biden-Harris ticket’s term in office, it is clearly Emhoff who has emerged as the most impressive member of the VP family on the national political stage.

Dan Schnur is a Professor at the University of California – Berkeley, USC and Pepperdine. Join Dan for his weekly webinar “Politics in the Time of Coronavirus” (www.lawac.org) on Tuesdays at 5 PM.