How Kamala Harris became a controversial potential VP pick for Biden

Senator Kamala Harris is considered by many experts to be the favorite to become Joe Biden’s running mate for quite some time.

However, several recent reports have cited sources that cast doubt on Biden’s inner circle about Harris, and other options such as former national security adviser Susan Rice or Representative Karen Bass, both black women with extensive experience in the country’s capital, have seen their stocks increase.

Supporters of Rice and Bass have touted their lack of political ambitions as strengths for any one of them to serve as a loyal vice president election who can also offer their own policy expertise at the White House; the subtext means they will not be motivated by a possible career in 2024 or 2028 as Harris would be.

So what exactly is going on here and where is Harris located?

The drama and mystique of a possible vice president election makes the process full of innuendo and rumors in the press.

Almost daily, the supposed favorite can range from one candidate to another. The reasons for unflattering details about a candidate or other rumors being revealed at any given time can be confusing for those who follow the saga from afar.

When it comes to Harris, the crux of the conflict splits into two places in time: the first Democratic primary debate televised last July and the 2024 presidential race.

As for those who reportedly have reservations about Harris, things get a little murkier, but only a few close confidants to Biden are the ones to watch.

This is what Kamala’s drama is about.

The ‘inner circle’

This week’s big story has been about a meeting Harris had with one of Biden’s best advisers and best friends, former Senator Chris Dodd.

Dodd, who advocated the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill after the 2008 financial crisis, is one of four members of Biden’s official vice presidential selection committee.

The 76-year-old man reportedly had qualms Harris did not show “remorse” for persecuting Biden in the debate over his opposition to federally mandated buses, and the California senator told Dodd “that’s politics”.

That viral moment centered around Harris challenging Biden for opposing federally mandated buses, drawing his personal story into the mix by describing how the buses allowed him to go to a better school.

“There was a girl in California who was in the second class to integrate her public schools and was bused to school every day,” Harris told Biden. “That girl was me. So I will tell you that on this issue, it cannot be an intellectual debate among Democrats.”

Biden and Harris would later appear to bury the ax, appearing even friendly at times during the primaries before Harris retired and finally backed Biden.

However, Dodd’s meeting with Harris, first reported by Politico, was apparently so poor that it revealed “a contingent of Democrats who are lobbying Harris for vice president, some privately, others openly,” according to Politico.

Dodd was seeking a sincere apology for what he reportedly described as a debate “gimmick” that “was cheap,” according to Politico, rather than taking Harris’s view that Biden’s past positions were fair game. .

The fact that Harris could be a trusted Biden delegate or put his own political ambitions first was what worried Dodd and others in Biden’s inner circle, as well as some donors, Politico reported.

Harris’s reliability was reportedly the issue Dodd was most concerned about after leaving the meeting, but critics have asked why a white man in his 70s should have so much influence over Biden that he chooses a woman of color for his partner. of formula.

Gender tropes are also at stake, with different connotations of ambition and loyalty that potentially work against Harris as a woman in politics.

However, under the radar, two women are also key to Biden’s VP decision, and neither are they on the official selection committee.

One of them is Biden’s wife, Jill, who was recorded as highly critical of the Harris attack, calling it “a blow to the gut” before giving a more conciliatory tone when the two appeared together onstage in Michigan in March. .

Biden has said that he often consults his wife about important decisions, and it has been difficult to get a reading of his position on Harris despite campaign efforts to turn the page once the California senator endorsed him.

The other crucial figure in Biden’s inner circle is his sister, Valerie Biden Owens.

Biden Owens led each and every one of his brother’s political campaigns up to this one, from student government to the seven Senate elections and even his presidential offers of 1988 and 2008.

She wears many of the same gestures as her brother, and can show sharper elbows along the way than Biden, more reluctant to conflict.

When he was in New Hampshire working as a political reporter for The Keene Sentinel covering the 2020 primaries, Biden Owens came to the local campaign office to meet with supporters and volunteers.

We stepped aside for an interview once he was done shaking hands and I asked him about the timing of the debate.

Biden Owens’ demeanor suddenly turned into a tone of irritation, and he let go before an assistant intervened to say he needed to return to the parked SUV outside to head to another event.

“He is very aware of that t-shirt moment,” she told me, referring to Harris ‘campaign selling merchandise in reference to the time of the debate and one of Harris’ most memorable quotes, “That Little Girl Was Me.”

“You know what I mean by the time of the shirt? ‘I was that girl’ and, for God’s sake, Joe has been on civil rights since he lived it all his life,” said Biden Owens.

In a Washington Post story in late June, Sean Sullivan and Annie Linksy reported that the qualms with Harris between Biden’s wife and sister were of sufficient concern to the campaign as they needed to be addressed with a show of unity.

“In trying to calm the rumors of some Democrats who have said they detected signs of frustration with Harris by Jill Biden and Valerie Biden Owens, Biden’s sister and lifelong political adviser, the Biden campaign on Friday sought to dispel publicly the notion that their views on Harris are nothing less than positive, “wrote Sullivan and Linsky.

“Both Dr. Biden and Valerie have nothing but the utmost respect, admiration and affection for Senator Harris,” Biden campaign spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander told The Post in a statement. “Rumors or conjectures to the contrary are not true and have a zero basis in reality or in facts.”

If those feelings have really softened, only those with unlimited access to Biden’s inner circle can know.

But if Harris falls short, the warning signs were in place long before the summer veepstake stories began to drop.