https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2024/02/12/i-am-ready-to-serve-kamala-harris-responds-to-concerns-over-bidens-age/
Harris’ approval ratings hover around 37%, according to the latest polling.
I hope that Biden gets reelected and then a few months in steps down and gives us the first female and black president. The maggats will lose their fucking minds and I'm going to have a trailer of popcorn ready for the show.
I don't really like Kamala Harris much, but I really doubt she'd be substantially worse than Biden. And probably miles better than virtually any Republican.
Right now I don't care about us moving forward policy wise. At the moment what we need is more stability and let the states work on progressive policy like protecting trans, queer, etc, access to birth control, abortions, etc.
Biden has been way better than people give him credit for (including the left). He has not only been able to (with help obviously) undo most of the damage trump caused but has also brought us back to a fairly roaring economy despite the insane inflation thanks to capitalism being capitalism.
Not that many compared to the ones passing laws to reinforce it or even codifying it in their states constitution. 1 of 2 things will happen with the reddest of states.
They lose enough people moving to blue states that they keep taking more from the feds than they pay in and the status quo stays the same.
Enough progressives move to cities like Austin that they turn the state purple if not bright blue.
What we need is some kind of federal rule on how to draw districts and magically the maggats lose most of their power.
They lose enough people moving to blue states that they keep taking more from the feds than they pay in and the status quo stays the same.
Except they further cement their states as red states. Each of which has 2 senators who are less likely to flip. The status quo gets worse.
let the states work on progressive policy like protecting trans, queer, etc, access to birth control, abortions, etc.
That's a great way to make those into Red State Problems that will never be fixed for the whole country, because legislators from blue states represent people for whom the problems are solved and experience no pressure to address the problems beyond that.
I didn't expect lollypops and ice cream when Biden was elected but if you really look at his accomplishments, he is doing a really good job. Certainly the MSM isn't reporting it so you have to dig to find it, and it's there.
I disagree that Biden is doing a really good job. I think he is not doing enough to combat climate change, labor rights, income inequality, or human rights abuses at every level of government. His foreign policy is status quo, which isn't good.
He's a functioning adult with a modicum of shame, which is to say he's worlds better than any Republican, especially Trump. He's doing his job and making thoughtful, considered decisions. In comparison to the previous administration, that's a grand slam, but compared to the leadership we need right now, it's not good enough.
Leadership means setting the goal and making the persuasive argument. It means speaking out on issues when Congress and activist judges are pushing in the wrong direction. Governing is the slow boring of hard boards, and if you give up without trying because some people will try to stop you, then you have no business running for office.
So Biden compromises to make a deal with Republicans, they backtrack so it's Biden's fault nothing gets done?
If Harris becomes president and chooses to run for a second term, there's a good chance we're losing 2028. She lacks charisma and often comes off as unprepared even for softball questions, and her history does... not endear her to large parts of the Dem electorate.
Best hope for a non-dictator running on the GOP ticket.
Hell, maybe I'll be proven wrong, and she'll turn out great in the position. But I'm not exactly thrilled by her performance so far.
Then rounded over to Donald v Kamala in 2032. then AITrump v Kamala in 2036. Just keep holding your nose and vote the way you're told to or the whole system collapses.
Tbf, we probably had AI Trump already for parts of the last presidency. We do as we're told, the same as the President of the United States!
She lacks charisma and often comes off as unprepared even for softball questions, and her history does… not endear her to large parts of the Dem electorate.
And that's before we even get to the problems associated with being the preordained candidate on the 20th anniversary of the last time the results of the Democratic Party primaries weren't decided ahead of time.
I'm not gonna say it would be wrong to happen that way, but I do feel like it would be a disservice to civil rights for the first woman president to be a matter of technicality, deigned to be given by an old white man. It would always be a bit marred by that.
While I don't disagree. I wouldn't be surprised if they had already discussed this possibility. And seriously, what is the difference between him stepping down after the next election or 3 months ago? It's more likely than not to happen legitimately versus "health issues".
To clarify, I mean becoming president through the vice presidency, vs being elected as president outright.
Right and that was my point. She agreed to be his vp and had to be aware that he is more likely to have health issues that have him step down even if only temporarily. For her legacy and the "look" or whatever, there is no difference between him having to step-down today or after the election it's also how she could (in theory) get 3 terms in office.
The thing is if Biden really did that, she would be able to run 2 more terms as president. I think Lyndon had that chance but didn't get reelected for a 2nd term. Outside of Roosevelt, she would have the chance to serve longer than 2 years as president.
I know. She would have a chance at 3 terms and if she didn't win reelection next election she could still run again 4 years later.
can you imagine if we had a strong African-American and Indian-American woman as president? so much shit would get done.
That’s one of the biggest jobs of being vice president
That's one of the only jobs of being VP. Be ready in case your boss dies, and cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate. The position serves no other purpose. Just ask the first guy who took the job:
My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived
-- John Adams
Is this her answer to defending Biden’s age? I am patiently waiting to become president when he dies?
Isn't this what every vice president does? It's literally the job of the vice president.
I'm sure Pence was just waiting for Donnie to choke on a hamburger.
Sure but this means the Biden administration is simultaneously saying that Biden is not too old to be president - but that if he does happen to die of old age then Kamala is ready to serve.
It's her response to an interview question. She's not openly bragging about this, so I'm struggling to figure out why y'all stopped reading at the headline. The interviewer made it a thing, and she responded in kind. This isn't "the Biden administration saying" anything.
So the vice President is not the Biden administration now? This is getting curiouser and curiouser
You're clearly trying to misinterpret the situation. The Administration isn't coming out with some kind of position statement, as if they needed to make their official stance known. They're not coordinating a message. She was directly asked if voters' concerns mean she must convince them she's ready to serve, and she responded with "there’s no question about that."
You filled in the rest about them talking out of both sides of their mouths.
No, I’m not. Biden’s age is a real concern among voters. Kamala said she is ready to serve.
That’s exactly what she is saying. She’s a politician. The vice presidents answer to responding to Biden’s concerns about age is that she is ready to serve. How do you not see that?
I get that you would rather have anyone else than trump.
The writing is on the wall and the democrat party is driving off the cliff to a trump win.
Reading the actual article, the context is not so awkward, at least not because she made it so.
The person asking the question specifically raised the "are you ready to serve if he can't?". The interviewer specifically took it there, rather than her voluntarily choosing to take the conversation there.
One of Biden's biggest mistakes was choosing Harris as his VP, she's been pretty much worthless as a VP, other than doing her tiebreaker votes, but I'm pretty sure anyone in that position would've done the same exact thing. Still though, apart from recent history, VP's have usually been pretty much ceremonial in that role, so maybe it's more a return to form having someone like her there, rather than a Cheney or a Biden actually being considered a key part of the administration.
Biden being a VP was the only other reason to vote for him besides his stated ability to negotiate with Senate Republicans...
They were both bullshit reasons. When a candidate the party likes can't win a primary, they make them a VP and then claim that makes them experienced.
Hell, with Biden they even said that wouldn't happen because of his age, then over a decade later he still became president.
There's an obsession about name recognition, ignorant of the fact that even the most politically disengaged Americans will know both candidates before the general even starts.
Also, one of the critical qualities people seek for a VP is that they’re boring.
You dont pick a vp that’s popular- they might get more popular than you- and you don’t pick a vo that’s “controversial”
One might risk more, if the person is from a battleground state and is popular,
Biden gave her basically all meh jobs as VP too. Might have been on purpose. Give her something to do without setting her up to primary him.
she wasn't popular enough to primary him. there was some issues, IIRC, with her history as a prosecutor (of the "tough on crime" sort.) She's certainly more qualified that Trump, or anyone trump would pick as a VP at this point; but I don't think she'd win her own election... even if Biden had worked to set her up to replace him.
Can someone explain to me why I shouldn’t like Kamala Harris? And if someone says because she hasn’t been an effective VP, could someone show me an example of an effective VP in modern US history?
Peoples arguments stem from her political career before VP specifically due to her being a cop, her strong support for stop and frisk, and some terrible policies which harmed the black community by propagating their mass incarceration along with poor standards of education and access to public services. To be clear though, still better than the guy who states he'll be a dictator for "a day" whose lawyer claimed in court he could have his political opposition killed and as long as he wasn't impeached, it'd be legal
Additionally, Biden is one of the biggest proponents of the drug war and was more than happy to destroy people's lives over cannabis, all based on his own anecdotal fear towards drugs.
In 1986, then-Senator Joe Biden authored the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986–a critical component of the broader War on Drugs that devastated low-income communities of color through mass criminalization and systemic police violence.
Biden and Harris are just a step below Hillary Clinton when it comes to how muddy and shady they are. They really need more progressive people within the party who have the ability to rally Democrats to change. Like what Bernie tried, but find someone young who can actually bring about the change.
It's all better then Trump and the Republicans, but Harris and Biden are as right wing as you get from a democrat.
He was part of the Nixon, Ford, and both Bush Whitehouses...served in Congress during Reagan.
He knew where a lot of bodies went, which helps you get your things done.
As a VP backing up Biden, I think she's swell. As the candidate who has to beat Trump, I don't think she's strong enough. She shat the bed in the primary debates, and she has a complicated record as a prosecutor and previously supported policies that make it easy to criticize. She's either "evolved" on divisive issues, or she's on the wrong side of history.
The same could be said of Biden, but he has the decades of connections and experience, not to mention charisma, that helped him pull ahead in the primary and the general in 2020. I don't like him, and I think he's very beatable, but I think Harris would be much worse. In an open primary, I don't think Harris would win the nomination, even running as an incumbent (like if Biden stepped down). Maybe if Biden wins and then immediately steps down, giving her four years to establish herself, she could craft a new identity. But it is too late for that now.
If Biden were unavailable as a candidate, we'll get four more years of Trump.
To name a few:
-Championed and implemented legislation that put parents in prison if their child skipped school (truency)
-She blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so
-Put 1900 people in prison for smoking weed, while giggling about smoking it herself
-Blocked access to 12$ DNA tests, to check if the preserved DNA from a crime is from the defendant.
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/10/17/924766186/the-story-behind-kamala-harriss-truancy-program https://www.theblaze.com/news/kamala-harris-criminal-justice-record
She's such a non-presence that I genuinely don't understand the intense dislike of her. I have virtually no opinion on her. I wouldn't call that a good thing either in terms of someone who might be in the eventual position of running for president, but I also don't really get why she's so hated.
That is the big advantage of the Dems here. If Trump croaks before the election, the GOP has nothing but a field of debris. If Biden does, Harris is still there.
Has she done something to earn that status? As far as I can tell, I just never hear about her. Over the last three presidents the only time I recall a VP being particularly prominent was when his president's followers called for his hanging.
People don’t like that she aggressively prosecuted people for weed. She’s a bland neo liberal like the rest of them.
Too at to the other answer... She's wishy-washy in her stances on issues, and talks in circles around things she's uncomfortable with( a lot of pols do this, admittedly) that's about as bad as it gets in a candidate for me. Tell me what you think and what you'll work for and stick to it. If that changes all the time then there's no way to trust it. Instant turn off.
Has she done something to earn that status?
Does that matter?
If she's unpopular, it really makes no difference why.
Of course the black lady is unpopular in politics. The only thing my mother in law can tell you about why she doesn't like VP Harris is that her husband is white.
I think it has more to do with the the people she put in prison for weed as a prosecutor.
I think there are people still serving time. For weed. That our democratic VP put there.
Harris saying she's ready to serve is honestly one of the strongest arguments I've seen to not vote for Biden. The Dems are so good at throwing elections.
That's part of it, and definitely the majority of it here on Lemmy.
That isn't even a consideration for the majority of voters.
Yes, the party that elected our first black president doesn't like Harris because she's black. Dems would never, in a million years, approve of a black politician. Ever.
Never.
Right? Like, do we need to heat her up before she’s served or is she good at room temperature?
Has she even spoken about abortion rights yet? I remember this video where she doesn't even say the word lol
Kamala Harris' BIZARRE Answer To Abortion Question - TMR 2022
At least this authoritarian will have a big ol (D) next to their name! That's what's important right guys?!
God I can't wait for HiroCheeto to croak so I can go back to hating on Dems without immediately getting some schpeel about solidarity. Yes, I'll vote Democrat, but fuck do I want an actual progressive party.
Well done for confirming you’re ready to fulfill the most basic term of the agreement of your position. Here, have a medal. Wtf. Tomorrow I’m going to send an email company wide stating that I’m ready to come to be at work on time, should the situation demand it.
I remember just about every single Democrat I knew in California DESPISED Kamala Harris...now, they love her...funny how that works.
Sure you did. Looks like she's been elected pretty handily in her various offices https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_Kamala_Harris
She was HUGE on the war on drugs...threw just about anyone and everyone in jail for the simplest of things...so yea, she wasn't very liked during her reign in SF....
Golly gee. I wonder how she kept getting elected by such large margins. What are you even talking about?
Hey man, it's all good that she was still winning and throwing people in jail. I don't give a fuck, I vote more to the Right, so I'm all for tough on crime and punishing people. I was just simply pointing out that she was very controversial when she was in SF. At one time, she was promoted herself as "anti-progressive." I think her position on drug related crimes help get her support from other voters than just Democrats too.
Hey, buddy. You make it sound like it's literally not her job. What kind of alternate universe drugs are you in, because most people probably want them to use for escape.