Joe Biden would be wise to pick Kamala Harris
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More often than not US vice-presidential picks channel Shakespeare’s line about a tale, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. History tells us that after the excitement fades, they rarely have much impact on an election. Joe Biden’s choice will be far more heavily freighted. At 78 next January, he would be by far America’s oldest president (older than Ronald Reagan was when he retired). Whomever he selects will instantly be sized up as America’s first female commander-in-chief.
Among the shortlist, Mr Biden’s most obvious choice would be Kamala Harris. Alas, their chemistry may be a little off. In one of the Democratic debates last year, Ms Harris — whose father was born in Jamaica and mother in India — accused Mr Biden of having allied with southern segregationists when he was a young lawmaker. The US senator from California singled out his opposition to government-mandated bussing to integrate racially segregated schools in the 1970s. Ms Harris’s real point was that America needed a more modern face. Irony had the last laugh when black voters handed the former US vice-president the Democratic nomination in his South Carolina primary landslide in February.
If glances could kill, Ms Harris and Mr Biden came close to murdering each other that night. Mr Biden’s problem is that only one other name on his apparent shortlist — Elizabeth Warren — has the credentials to be president. But Ms Warren’s redistributionist instincts could alienate moderates and revive Donald Trump’s attempts to paint Mr Biden as captive to radical socialists. For that reason, Karen Bass, the congresswoman from California, is now almost certainly ruled out. She has said one too many nice things about Cuba’s Fidel Castro during her career.
Which leaves Tammy Duckworth, the US senator from Illinois and army veteran; and Susan Rice, who was Barack Obama’s national security adviser and UN ambassador. Ms Duckworth is a tough character. She lost both her legs in Iraq and fought her way to the Senate. She personifies the grit in the American dream. She also served in Mr Obama’s Department of Veterans Affairs. But she is probably too centrist for the Democratic base, which is already having to digest the quintessentially moderate Mr Biden.
The choice thus probably boils down to Ms Rice or Ms Harris. That Ms Rice is in contention is a measure of the unusual times. It is hard to imagine her making the shortlist in any other cycle. She has never run for any kind of elected office and has spent most of her life in Washington. As a foreign policy specialist, Ms Rice matches, rather than complements, Mr Biden’s interests. By any standard, Mr Biden would be rash to expose a neophyte to the harshness of the campaign trail — let alone to a shadow audition for the US presidency.
Yet she could well be Mr Biden’s choice. How did Ms Rice make it this far? First, some of it is to do with comfort levels. As vice-president, Mr Biden worked daily with Ms Rice. Many national security advisers learn how to cut out the vice-president, who is usually seen as a nuisance. John Adams, America’s first vice-president, was mocked as “His Superfluous Excellency”. A former holder of the job said it was “not worth a bucket of warm piss”. Ms Rice treated Mr Biden with respect, as Mr Obama did, which goes a long way.
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Second, Washington is teeming with former Obama officials who are vying for a second act. Ms Rice could serve their cause. She would be well qualified to be secretary of state or America’s first female Pentagon chief. Third, Ms Rice is not Ms Harris, who is instinctively political. Ms Rice, in other words, would not be plotting her 2024 campaign from the moment Mr Biden was sworn in. He could more judiciously declare himself a one-term president if his running mate were apolitical.
Yet Ms Rice would be a risky bet. Whatever her faults, Ms Harris knows how to land a campaign punch. As California’s former attorney-general, she would bring the kind of prosecutorial killer instinct Mr Biden badly needs in what will be the mother of all dirty elections. Stopping a Trump second term is a big deal, as Mr Biden might say. Picking a running mate will be his first big decision in that quest. It would be a pity if he messed it up.
Follow on Twitter: @EdwardGLuce
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