Vice President Kamala Harris was invited on to “Good Morning America” and was asked to defend herself against recent accusations that the President Joe Biden and his administration is responsible for her failing poll numbers.
“Vice presidents always face chatter about their role and their relevance. You’re no exception to that. Even your close friends and allies like the lieutenant governor of California, Eleni Kounalakis, have expressed some frustration because they think you can be more helpful than you’ve been asked to be. Do you share that frustration? What do you say to your friends who are frustrated?” co-host George Stephanopoulos asked the vice president.
“This was a good week, and this week, when we got this Bipartisan Infrastructure Act passed and signed by the president, makes a statement about all of the hard work that has gone into it, month after month after month. I’ve traveled around the country, as has the president,” Harris replied. “We have convened members of Congress, we have convened people around our nation, asking, ‘what do you want?’ And this is a response to what they want. And it’s actually going to hit the ground in a way that is going to have direct impact on the American people. We’re getting things done, and we’re doing it together.”
Stephanopoulos followed up by asking Harris if she felt “misused or underused.”
“No,” Harris answered. “I don’t. I’m very, very excited about the work that we have accomplished. But I am also absolutely, absolutely clear-eyed that there is a lot more to do, and we’re gonna get it done.”
Harris is defending herself days after a disastrous report in CNN, which insinuated Biden had set Harris up to fail by assigning her difficult assignments like the U.S.-Mexico border crisis:
Harris’ team was mad Biden had assigned her to handle diplomatic relations with the Northern Triangle nations, in hopes of addressing the root causes of migration to the US, but gave her no role on the southern border itself. That become the most visible crisis in the early days of Biden’s presidency as unaccompanied minors overwhelmed federal government resources. It seemed like an all-around politically losing assignment even though Biden had seen it as a sign of respect because it was the same job Obama had given him as vice president.
As CNN has previously reported, Harris herself has said she didn’t want to be assigned to manage the border, aware that it was a no-win political situation that would only sandbag her in the future. But Biden’s team was annoyed that Harris fumbled answers about the border, including when she gave an awkward, laughing response about not visiting it during a spring interview with NBC’s Lester Holt.
As some around Harris see it, the White House failed to come to her defense.
The report also claimed that Harris, who currently had a 28% approval rating in one recent poll, had complained that she was not being supported enough.