How Powerful the Vice President of the United States Really?

Superhero or super villain? Kamala Harris is said to be very strong in the White House. The Vice President has her problems.

In Washington, some phrases express a problem, obviously only at first glance. Take this: the president is actually the boss. It sounds cliche, but the discovery surprised some observers.

Because in fact, as he heard so often in the election campaign and in the post-election struggle, he was Joe Biden Just a dilapidated puppet, while at the White House the official vice president holds strings. Kamala Harris, The real boss.

The idea is widespread not only among opponents of the right, but also among some supporters of the left. There are two versions: one for Biden, just after retirement Donald Trump To depart, he abdicates immediately after the inauguration and formally appointed Harris as president. Or he would run for Biden, but he would only give August better as Harris sets the government’s course.

The other day, I heard the second alternative on Fox News again: Shakir Al Masaa on the 8pm show, Tucker CarlsonWhispered out President Harris, a supernatural villain who hates America and gives orders behind the scenes.

However, in reality, it is assumed that tired and unimaginative Joe Biden himself has developed colossal ambitions to go down in history as a great reformer, setting tone and direction in the White House, and Kamala Harris is always there, but remains very sweet. Superschurkin, Superholdin, Supermächtig? Excellent!

No sentence or verb has been described by the vice president, only one scene I will come to. It’s about Harris himself, but it’s also about the office.

Since “Sit”: Joe Biden often shares the stage with his vice president. (Source: Evan Vucci / AP / dpa)

Many have overestimated the Harris politician because the Harris person symbolizes something great: the massive shifts of power in our time.

She is the first female vice president in the history of the United States. Due to her father being a Jamaican and Indian mother, she is also the first black American woman and the first Asian American to hold the second highest position. These things are very important to many people right now (while others are just so angry about it). There is no text that does not mention it. But there is one more thing.

In Washington state, it is governed by a 78-year-old man who was elected to the Senate in 1972, the number three in the state, Nancy PelosiShe is 81 years old and some influential senators are already preparing to celebrate their 90th birthday, 2nd place, 56th, and since 2017 alone in Washington, she looks young and new. She herself cultivates the image of a woman bringing a breath of fresh air to politics, all while wearing her now famous cartouches.

This is why there is a hype of Kamala, especially among young women who – I wrote about it here once – He was able to testify early in 2018 during an elevator trip to the Capitol building, where a young woman literally shouted “heroine.”

None of this, however, suits the role of the vice president. The vice president or vice president does not represent himself nor anyone else, but rather the president.

VP World is EEOB. The Executive Office Building in Eisenhower is a 30-second or one-minute and 30-minute walk from the West Wing, depending on the route, but it’s a different world.

In the beautifully shot “Veep” sitcom for years. The ambitious vice president who, despite short distances, never confronts the president and for whom EEOB becomes an inferior office complex, while even the insignificant Assistant to the President brags about every visit he has just made from the West Wing. Exaggerated, sure, but frankly it’s closer to reality than pulling out President Harris.

An MP only gets the power that the president bestows on him. Biden puts the spotlight on Harris to gain a special place in foreign affairs. She was allowed to meet South Korea’s Moon separately at EEOB, divert a phone call to French Macron, and talk to South Korea’s neighbors about the refugee influx to the border. He will go there on his first trip abroad next week.

I met a coffee guy on Thursday who cares more about Harris than anyone. Noah Berman is the White House reporter for the Los Angeles Times and has only written about the vice president for months. He works for the largest newspaper in Harris, California.

He said hesitantly from American newspaper correspondents: “His role has not been found yet.” “Maybe something is happening behind the scenes that we don’t know yet.”

Biden had promised that his deputy would always be “last in the hall” when important decisions were made. But now, after the first few months, there are more and more stories in the capital about Biden’s true confidant, the handful of political friends who forged their alliance for decades. “This is where the real decisions are made, and there is no Harris there,” Berman said.

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He said he had only spoken to Harris on the phone the day before, a rare conversation that was scheduled, after so many hesitations, for five or seven minutes, and then lasted less than ten minutes. Otherwise, it is in short supply. Berman predicted: “She will have more freedom soon, but she has always been very careful and I don’t think her style will change much.”

I can describe it more explicitly in an opinion column: Harris is not only cautious, as Vice President, she often speaks in terms and rhetoric about the remaining big city, and almost never speaks in moments of spontaneity.

I noticed this while escorting former presidential candidate Harris to Iowa in 2019. I got off to a great start with 20,000 supporters in the Oakland home, but outside of California, I’ve never really built a relationship with major constituencies.

You just don’t know what you stand for. You didn’t hit the right note either. During the election campaign, the former attorney general said he wanted to “bring the Donald Trump case to trial” and resolve people’s nightly concerns, as it was called the “3am plan”. he was there Discussion pointsThis is what consultants can see in their offices as their own perception.

Since then, I’ve spotted a few things with the Vice President. From her first months in the White House, not a single sentence remained in her mind, but with her presence. The defining moment came in Biden’s first speech to Congress, when he finished second and third in the state, and two women made their debut in Harris and Pelosi. Harris embodies the diversity that is currently very important to Democrats and relatively important to Biden. Once again: Icon.

President Biden (before Vice President Harris and President Pelosi): “America is moving again.” (Source: Melina Mara / Washington Post / Paul / Associated Press / DPA)

This is why it lends itself perfectly also as an image of the enemy of the other side, which goes against the tide when it comes to equality, racism, and the representation of minorities. Offers very different anchor points from the old white in the oval office.

There is clearly still something with President Harris. Your ambitions for the top job are clear, and even if Biden pretends to run again in 2024, I don’t expect that. A good man will be 82 years old.

But first and foremost, the vice president should hide his ambitions as much as possible and fulfill his role as the most loyal assistant.
She also has two very selfish reasons for supporting Biden: Only if her government does a good job in the eyes of the majority will she have a good chance of being elected.

And only if he gets the full support of his boss. Biden himself checked how important that was. He wanted a competition in 2016 and asked his boss to support the crowd. But Obama remained silent, Biden insisted, and Clinton and Trump arrived.

So, Kamala Harris has one more thing to prove: She is capable of campaigning. She has to find language for those who do not like her as a superhero and do not describe her as a supernatural villain. So for ordinary Americans. He still has some time.