Kamala Harris made history the first day she set foot in the White House by becoming the first African-American and female Vice President of the United States. The now president, Joe Biden, relied heavily on her during the elections to get the vote of the African American community and that of women, but he is not needing it so much to govern. The greatest task that the president has entrusted to him is to deal with the problems generated by the massive arrival of immigrants at the US border.
“She has not been as strong as Biden’s vice president, unlike Al Gore – Bill Clinton’s vice president – or other previous vice presidents, and Biden really he has not given you any homework in which he can demonstrate his skills”, he details Public Professor of Political Science at Columbia University Robert Shapiro.
loss of popularity
The statistics have not accompanied Harris either, his approval rating has been going down over the months, now he has a 39.1% in favor and 52% against, according Real Clear Politics. A number not only lower than that of Biden -both when he was Barack Obama’s vice president and now, who is the country’s main leader-, but also of his predecessors Al Gore and Dick Cheney -George W. Bush’s second hand.
“Basically, she is Biden’s spokesperson. You’re not acting on your own. Although she has given her collaborative contribution to Biden, she is following the guidelines of another politician,” he points out to Public Professor of Political Science at Georgetown University in Washington DC, Nadia Brown.
target of criticism
Harris, like other politicians, has been the target of sexist, violent and misogynistic messages on social media, as well as constant criticism from Republicans and conservative media. Brown, who is also chair of the women’s and gender studies program at Georgetown University, says her research suggests the media still they don’t know how to report on women in general, and in particular on African-American women.
“Generally the media tend to use these two points of view. That she is an angry black woman, as we saw with the hashtag I’m Speaking (I am speaking) – a label that became a trend during the electoral debate between then Vice President Mike Pence and Harris-, which in a certain way uses the stereotype of a angry black woman. And then there is the fine line of seeing her as feminine and reporting her as Momala – an English combination of mom and her last name – as well as her relationship with Douglas Emhoff – her husband – “, notes the expert.
Kamala Harris, to the migrants: “Don’t come”
On her first international trip, last June, Harris visited Guatemala and Mexico, from where the Democrat sent a resounding message to Central American migrants who are trying to flee the misery of their countries in search of a new life in the United States. “Do not come”. “When she goes to Guatemala and says not to come to this country, it slaps the entire Latino community in the face,” he explained to Public political analyst Luis Alvarado.
Harris was going to be the right person to “understand the migratory phenomenon”, since he comes from a migrant family
Fernando García, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights who met in El Paso, a Texas city on the border of the United States and Mexico, to speak with the vice president in the summer, points out to Public that he believed that Harris was going to be the right person to “Understanding the migratory phenomenon”, since she comes from a migrant family – her mother arrived from India in 1958 and her father from Jamaica in 1961 – and that she would help “humanize the migrant and humanize immigration policy”. “But we haven’t seen much,” laments Garcia.
The activist describes the immigration policy of the Biden-Harris administration as “very mediocre”, in part because they continued with policies implemented by the Donald Trump government, such as the Migrant Protection Protocols or “Stay in Mexico” program, which forces asylum seekers to wait in Mexico the development of its processes in the United States, as well as Title 42, which allows migrants who cross the border to be expelled for health reasons. But also because they did not approve the immigration reform, the president’s electoral promise to give citizenship to almost 11 million undocumented immigrants, which is now stalled in the Senate.
One hour and 25 minutes
On November 19, for an hour and 25 minutes, Harris became the first woman to hold the presidency of the United States while Biden was under anesthesia to undergo a routine colonoscopy. “That’s a huge win for Kamala Harris and women’s representation even if it was for a short period of time,” says Brown.
At 79, Biden is the oldest president in US history. Meanwhile, there is speculation that Harris may have to take over the government if the democrat’s health worsens in the following three years, as well as Biden choosing not to run for the 2024 elections, thus leaving the way clear for the second in command. If Harris were to run in the next presidential election, he would undoubtedly have more experience and contacts, one of his weak points in his 2020 candidacy.
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