VP Harris is the butt of absurd criticism, but like black women before her, she will overcome

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OPINION: Vice President Kamala Harris is a strong black woman who won’t let her detractors shut her up, push her aside or push her into the back of the bus.

Almost every US Vice President has been the butt of jokes about having little to do and criticism of doing things badly – most of them unfair. Vice President Kamala Harris is no exception.

As a spare tire, for most of our history, vice presidents have served the primary function of being available in case the president dies or resigns. But the role of Vice President changed dramatically when Vice President Walter Mondale took office in 1977. President Jimmy Carter gave Mondale important responsibilities and treated him as a trusted advisor.

Since then, this model has continued with presidents and their vice-presidents for the most part. This was certainly true in the strong working relationship between President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, and it is true today in the relationship between President Biden and Vice President Harris.

As Biden said when he was vice president, “The way the world has changed, the breadth and depth of an American president’s responsibility practically demands that a vice president s ‘takes on serious business, just because the president’s plate is so full. . “

US President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, delivers remarks during the Easter Prayer Breakfast at the White House March 30, 2016 in Washington, DC (Photo by Kevin Dietsch-Pool / Getty Images)

Harris has played a key role in running serious missions to help achieve historic achievements by the Biden-Harris administration. These include the implementation of a free vaccination program to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the revitalization of our economy, the creation of a record 6 million jobs, the revitalization of our infrastructure, research major investments in social programs, repairing relations with foreign allies and firmness against foreign adversaries.

Biden made a wise choice in selecting Harris as his government partner. While her performance has come under a microscope because she’s the first woman, first black person, and first person of Asian descent to serve as vice president, Harris has strong credentials for her job. These include service as a Attorney General, California Attorney General, and United States Senator. Throughout her career, she has proven to be both an effective and a compassionate leader.

The story continues

Biden and Harris took office at a time when our country faced serious crises that arose under the chaotic and incompetent administration of the twice defeated and indicted former President Donald Trump. These included the out-of-control pandemic, a deep recession, high unemployment, racial injustice and unrest, dangerous climate change, growing income inequality, a deeply divided population, and an unpredictable and erratic foreign policy alienating our allies to worldwide.

These are arguably the biggest challenges any new administration has faced since the inauguration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933 at the height of the Great Depression.

While vice presidents are often not visible on major political issues, Harris has been entrusted with important assignments. She worked with President Biden to ensure millions more Americans have the support they need to be successful, and brought people who are often left behind to the table.

Biden and Harris gained congressional approval for the $ 1.9 trillion U.S. bailout to provide life-saving aid to American families, state and local governments, and businesses – as well as funding the coronavirus vaccination.

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

The administration followed this historic achievement by securing approval for the bipartisan infrastructure bill to invest $ 1.2 trillion to improve roads, bridges, public transportation, railways, ports and the electricity grid of our country.

And most recently, House Democrats passed the administration’s Build Back Better Act to invest roughly $ 2,000 billion over 10 years to provide affordable child care, free universal preschool, credit. tax for families with children, paid family leave, expanded Medicare and Medicaid assistance, job creation, destructive climate change initiatives and other landmark programs. The bill is now awaiting a decision in the Senate.

On the foreign policy front, the vice president traveled to Europe, Asia and Latin America to rebuild American alliances, and held dozens of meetings and appeals with foreign leaders, including leaders. from Mexico, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Jordan, India, Singapore, United Kingdom and Vietnam.

Yet in these hyper-partisan times, Republicans are ravaging Harris with exaggerated and absurd criticism, joined by right-wing media adoring Trump. Even some in the mainstream media are piling up, bending over backwards to show they can be tough on Democrats after four years of rightly critical coverage they’ve given Trump.

Republicans are doing everything they can to lower the vice president’s approval ratings among the American people because they fear she may one day run for president in the post-Biden era. They know she would make a powerful candidate.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at the Louis Stokes Library on the campus of her alma mater Howard University on July 8, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

But Harris is a strong black woman who won’t let her detractors shut her up, push her aside or push her into the back of the bus. She will win!

The Vice President stands on the shoulders of strong black women who changed history for the better like Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, Rep. Shirley Chisholm, Rep. Barbara Jordan, Senator Carol Moseley Braun and many more.

And Harris is using her seat at the table to advocate for the specific needs of blacks and women by fighting Republicans’ efforts to strip our votes and rig elections, by fighting right-wing efforts to deny us our reproductive rights, working for health equity in the fight against COVID-19 and the promotion of maternal health.

The spotlight is always on the president, of course, and Harris is fiercely loyal to President Biden. But the vice-president plays an important, if sometimes invisible, role in the achievements of any administration. Vice President Harris has done this and will continue to do so as a valued partner of President Biden and as an official fighting and winning battles for the American people.

Donna Brazile Headshot thegrio.com

Donna Brazile is an ABC News contributor, seasoned political strategist, adjunct professor at Georgetown University and the King Endowed Chair in Public Policy at Howard University. She previously served as interim chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute. She led the Gore Campaign in 2000 and lectured at over 225 colleges and universities on race, diversity, women, leadership, and restoring civility in politics. Brazile is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestseller “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House”.

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