According to this article, Kamala Harris suffers from being “the most scrutinized vice-president in memory.”
What is the evidence for that? None is offered.
But given that the author, Gabriel Debenedetti, was born in 1990, his memory, at best, only extends back to the Clinton administration. So THE ONLY VPs he might remember are Gore, Cheney, Biden, and, now, Harris. Debenedetti doesn’t remember when Spiro Agnew or Gerald Ford or Walter Mondale or George H. W. Bush was VP because he wasn’t born yet! He probably doesn’t remember when Dan Quayle was VP, unless he was a very precocious two-year-old. And it’s possible that he may not remember when Al Gore was VP because he was still just a little kid then.
I seem to remember a lot of negative press for Dan Quayle and Dick Cheney when they were VPs. Remember how Quayle misspelled “potato” and how Cheney shot his friend in the face!
Vice Presidents are often scrutinized by the press, and when the President is so old that his health becomes a topic of daily conversation, it makes sense for people to take a hard look at the one who could be required to step into the Oval Office before the next presidential election. If the American people – Democrats as well as Republicans – are not comfortable with the thought of addressing Kamala Harris as “Madame President,” that might have something to do with Harris’s mediocre performance as VP to-date.
One telling omission from Debenedetti’s attempted rehabilitation of Harris as Vice President is ANY MENTION of anything she has accomplished since assuming that office! The author tries to excuse Harris by claiming that “The Vice-Presidency is, by definition, a nearly impossible job.” No, it’s not. That statement is simply untrue. Consequential Vice-Presidents in my lifetime include Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, George H.W. Bush, Al Gore, and Dick Cheney.
If Kamala Harris hasn’t yet made her mark as VP and she wants to know why, I suggest she looks in the mirror.