Biden vs. Harris: Are there really tensions at the top of the White House?

Looking directly into the camera, in the fictional television series “House of Cards,” the senator U.S Frank Underwood judgment: “There are two types of vice-presidents: doormats or bullfighters. What do you think I want to be?”.

Lifelong lobbyist, experienced in the art of making things happen in the United States CongressFor or against the government of the day, Underwood is targeting the highest public office in the nation. For that, being a vice president who demonstrates authority is vital.

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Underwood wants to be a Richard Nixon, no Elbridge Gerry.

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Hernán Molina, Argentine political analyst based in the United States, comments: “The vice presidency is a symbolic office. He does not have a specific task beyond what the president of the day gives him”.

“And, generally, vice presidents live in a dilemma. If they do a lot, they can be perceived as someone trying to steal the cartel from the president, and that can generate internal tensions.”.

The other option is to relegate to ostracism, which is exactly what would be happening to the actual vicepresidenta de EE.UU., Kamala Harris.

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A figure that deflates

Kamala Harris joined the presidential formula of Joe Biden generating a lot of expectation. The look of a woman with Afro and Asian roots – ”> that this week and for 85 minutes held the internal presidency because Biden was undergoing a colonoscopy -, could serve so that some topics that are usually overlooked are discussed in the White House.

But it seems that this has not been the case.

The Semana portal explains:

“Several media close to the Washington political environment leaked that the relationship between Biden and Harris has deteriorated over the days”.

“The vice president’s anger would be for her assigned tasks, little related to her experience as a prosecutor and senator, so it is said that the second on board feels undervalued or underutilized”.

Added to this is the fact that each time he represented Washington in various countries, his presence was relegated to the background by unavoidable events.

The EFE agency recalls that, in August, during its visit to Singapore and Vietnam, chaos broke out in Afghanistan while the United States withdrew its troops.

Similarly, his meeting last month with the president Emmanuel Macron to smooth rough edges with France It also went unnoticed: at the same time, the Congress of his country approved the infrastructure plan.

Molina points to another edge.

“Historically, Harris has had trouble keeping his workgroup, people don’t last. And now it came to light that, in his office, there are dysfunctionalities and, those who work in the White House, complain about how difficult it is to work with them”.

The analyst refers, for example, to the resignation of its Communications Director, Ashley Etienne, who is going to “pursue other opportunities”.

A complicated mission

And of course, as if this weren’t enough, Biden delegated him a hot potato. Shortly after starting the government task, Harris was entrusted with managing the migration crisis on the southern border of the United States, where migrants from Central America and Mexico continue to arrive.

“It gave him a highly complex issue, such as migration. It is a highly controversial subject, it has too many potentially explosive edges, especially in an environment of polarization like the one we live in.”, Says Molina.

Kamala Harris, 57, is the vice president of the United States. EFE (OLIVER CONTRERAS / POOL /)

The lack of experience would also be taking its toll.

“The political environment is not given for her to be successful. For example, when Biden was vice president, he knew how to take on several important issues and, since he had been in the Senate for many years, he knew how the system worked.”.

“But she doesn’t have a 30-year career, she’s relatively new”.

Finally, if Biden really wanted to empower her, he wouldn’t have put her in that position.

“He gave Harris the vice presidency and Pete Buttigieg the Secretary of Transportation. One would say, well, the first charge is more important, but if you think about it, it is not.”.

“Buttigieg is more likely to directly affect people’s lives. The highways, trains, the subway depend on it and, now, with the infrastructure plan that was approved, imagine the power it will have”.

Joe Biden, President of the United States. REUTERS (KEVIN LAMARQUE /)

A real charge?

The analyst Octavio Pescador agrees that the vice presidency “lacks real power, in terms of public policy”, But makes a clarification.

“She has something very important and this can guarantee Harris’s reappearance: she has the deciding vote in the Senate to eliminate a tie, and that will help Biden move forward with his plan Build Back Better”.

That plan consists of giving “funds to guarantee universal access to preschool for children from three to four years old, key incentives in the fight against climate change and greater health coverage”.

“I doubt that Republican senators want to support that initiative, so your vote would be needed. There he will have the opportunity to have a leading role that, indeed, he has not had”.

So the grays would have to be removed from the equation: Did Biden choose her for the job just for image reasons? That they remove it from the spotlight, does it speak of a fight between the two?

“It is not clear what their personal relationship is like. But if you remember the first debate between the Democratic candidates for the presidential nomination, she left him very badly off in terms of her position with African Americans.”.

Fisher says that the attacks were “almost personal”And that, therefore, it seemed very difficult for Biden to include it in the presidential formula.

But that happened for many variables.

“She is from California and that state represents something very important to Democrats and Republicans: money for the campaign. Also, she is half African American and half Indian, so she covers two sectors”.

“And it is also linked to the most important strategic growth sector in the country and in the world, which is computer science, technology”.

This explains that Harris is by his side.

“If there is a personal animosity, I do not know, I have not seen information on that. But remember that a president or a high-level politician works with a wide team, that means that he can forgive, although not necessarily forget.”, Highlights Pescador.

Harris’s future

The Joe Biden and Kamala Harris discharge polls already speak of a crisis: the 42% agrees with him and a 28% with her.

With that in mind, it is valid to ask: was the idea that she would take the post in the Democratic leadership not sold?

Pescador understands that the priority of Biden and the Democrats, today, is don’t let the ship sink.

“In next year’s mid-term elections they could lose control of one of the chambers, and if the trend continues – inflation, the collapse of approval – they could also lose the 2024 presidential election.″.

Molina notes that there were those who said that she would be the ‘heir apparent’ [la heredera por naturaleza], but he’s not sure if that was really the case.

“I think there were a lot of expectations and hopes in the Democratic Party because she represented the new generation, like Clinton in the Bush Senior campaign or with Barack Obama and John McCain.”.

Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation and possible candidate for the Democratic Party primaries. Bloomberg (Stefani Reynolds /)

“But it is not like that, because there are primaries and there are others who want to run. On Amazon there is a documentary called ‘Major Pete’, a way to position a Pete Buttigieg in people’s minds and show that there may be a young gay man as president”.

That is why, says Pescador, his role in the approval of Build Back Better is the best opportunity to “be visible and vindicate yourself before the public image”.

“And if there is any fight or estrangement with Biden and his group, she will have to end them because, as much as she has the vote, she is not the boss, the rest will work for him and they may not let her appear.”.

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