President Helium needed the West Virginia lawmaker attached to his side, but he wasn’t sure he could get there without the help of his vice president.
In the summer, Senator Joe Manchin III’s deciding vote in a 50-50 enclosure placed him the president’s astir delicate negotiation partner, and President Biden was nether enormous unit to conquer his enactment. In order to discreetly announce the lawsuit for his flagship home argumentation legislation, Mr. Biden brought Mr. Manchin to the Oval Office. A few minutes before Mr. Manchin’s arrival, all eyes were on Vice President Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harriss Allies Express Concern is She an Afterthought
Helium did not need her opinion on tactical matters in Oregon. She greeted him with a hasty “hello” before turning on her heel and departing the room, as he had requested.
The event, which one older White House official described as a speech of “short pleasantries” and which was corroborated by two different radical who were briefed connected it, was a striking reminder of the complexities inherent in Ms. Harris’ position: While presidents do their best to give their vice presidents opportunities to contribute and a voice in policy decisions, the reality is that the vice president rarely has much of a say in matters pertaining to policy or administration, and Mr. Biden has never once sensed a request for advice from Ms. Harris as he has handled the majority of his most important relationships without her.
Since Ms. Harris was appointed without preexisting links to influential senators, it was suggested that the conversation between Vice President Biden and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin be kept behind closed doors. In light of the senator’s decision this week to break with the White House over the domestic policy package, it is hard to tell how much influence the president had on his own.
Vice President Pence faces accusations that she is missing short and dissatisfaction from supporters who feel she is being undercut by the administration she serves because she does not have a leading role in some of the most key decisions facing the White House. Even while Mr. Biden relied on her to help him get elected vice president, he does not require her assistance in running the government, and her supporters are growing increasingly worried.
Mark Buell, one of Ms. Harris’s early fund-raisers from her first election for district attorney in San Francisco, said of her, “I think she was a huge help to the ticket during the campaign.” Now that they’re making progress toward their goals, I hope she continues to be utilised in the same fashion.
Last Words
Former employee Gil Duran, who worked for Ms. Harris in 2013 while she was California attorney general, said she may be nasty and rude. According to Mr. Duran, he quit after five months on the job because Ms. Harris had been abusive to a staff member to the point of tears because she had refused to attend a briefing before a news conference and then felt unprepared.
