Vice President Kamala Harris has continued her sorely conflicted relationship with President Joe Biden since her campaign began.
Like an estranged couple, she and Biden hang out in the same house politically but don’t often mention each other and don’t go out together.
Harris’ campaign would benefit from an appropriate Joe-Biden-friendly approach, made clear to me with “there is not a thing that comes to mind“ when asked on ABC’s The View earlier this month what she would have done differently than Biden as vice president.
She stated that (go figure) a month after she had posted A New Way Forward, a bevy of proposals mixing her favored Biden policies with her goals for new and/or expanded programs and federal actions.
Still, her campaign bifurcation continues with “my presidency will not be a continuation” of Biden’s and such, distancing herself from the president. She’s been ever so careful on one hand to not offend the sitting president in interview and on the stump, yet maybe offending him by apparently freezing him out of her campaign and never appearing with him in public.
Despite her astounding nonanswer on “The View,” Harris is not short-sighted on new ideas or policy changes. Examples: She would restore the child tax credit and earned income tax credit, expand Medicare and let Medicare accelerate negotiations for friendlier drug prices.
She has taken a seemingly more cautious approach than Biden’s on Israel’s expanding violence, declaring the U.S. will help defend Israel but not promising the its military all the weapons and bombs it wants without regard to civilians killed and cities destroyed.
She would also hike the capital gains tax less than what Biden wants — from the current 23.6% to 28%, compared to Biden’s 44.6% target for those making over $1 million.
A presidential candidate should assume most Americans understand the nation’s needs and priorities change over time and from one presidential term to the next. So Harris need be no more reluctant to proposal additions or deletions from Biden policy as former President Trump himself has done on his positions from his term in the White House.
Meanwhile, Harris would help herself (perhaps even in a joint appearance with Biden) by proudly declaring some essential ways she will be like Biden as a president — and unlike her opponent.
A few starters:
- She would respect all Americans and treat them with decency, not ridicule and demean fellow citizens, including those of one’s own party, who disagree, as her opponent does daily.
- She’d respect our citizens in military service and treasure the advice of top military leaders, not disregard and belittle the top U.S. officers nor demean the honor of military personnel disabled or killed in action, as her opponent does.
- She’d stand solidly with U.S. allies and stand up to the world’s darkest despots, not cater to tyrants ruling Russia, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Hungary and other politically captive countries, as her opponent does with relish.
- She’d accept certified statewide election results, not lead a violent insurrection to overturn them, as her opponent has done.
No, when it comes to differences between Biden’s and Harris’ human decency and solid citizenship, “not a thing comes to mind.”
