White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had another uncomfortable moment during a Monday press conference when a reporter asked about Vice President Kamala Harris’ accomplishments in her current role.
Her answer – or lack thereof – hammers home a devastating reality for Democrats: Harris hasn’t done much, if anything at all, as vice president.
During the conference, a reporter asked what Biden sees “as the vice president’s biggest achievement during their time in office together.”
Jean-Pierre struggled to respond. “Look, because they’ve been partners, those achievements have been done. Certainly, those historic unprecedented achievements have been done together,” she began.
The press secretary affirmed that President Biden “believes in the vice president’s leadership, her temperament, her experience” and that “one of the proudest decisions that he made in 2020 was selecting her as vice president because he believed that she can go on day one.”
It didn’t get much better from there as Jean-Pierre attempted to spin Harris’ record.
“You’ve seen them do that together on day one of this administration. That doesn’t change. I’m not going to parse out anything from here. They have been partners. She’s been a critical partner for this president during this term, and will continue to do so. You will see them together on Thursday in Maryland, where they would talk about their next announcement on lowering costs for the American people.”
Jean-Pierre has nothing to say when asked what Biden sees as Kamala’s “biggest achievement” as Vice President (that’s because there isn’t any).
“I’m not going to parse out anything from here…” pic.twitter.com/BT3clGq54x
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 12, 2024
If I were in the unenviable position of being President Joe Biden’s White House press secretary, this would be the question I would dread most. Jean-Pierre’s effort to field that question was almost as painful to watch as a kitten getting tortured.
The hard reality that Democrats must face in this election season is that they are running a candidate who hasn’t accomplished much of anything during her stint as vice president. She failed on the border crisis, which, despite what the media claims, was a significant part of her job. Harris has also failed to make a meaningful impact in the White House.
Team Trump is wise to hammer on this point. If I were a part of that team, I’d be telling them to ask this question every single day. Earlier this month, I wrote an article about similar comments made by pollster Frank Luntz. The smartest avenue of attack against Harris is her record and the radical policies she espouses.
As the Harris/Walz campaign continues to run its “joyful” campaign, it will become even more clear in the coming days that her only selling point is that she is not former President Donald Trump. This might help her win over some voters, but only those who were already going to vote for the Democratic candidate anyway. If she wants to appeal to moderates and independents, she will have to do more than “I’m Not Trump.” Unfortunately for her, she does not appear to have much more than that going for her.
