Kamala Harris made history as the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to serve as vice president, but that's not enough, according to Democratic political heavyweights.
US media quotes prominent Democrats who have privately expressed doubts about Harris' prospects of becoming the leader of either the party or the nation anytime soon. She is still struggling to rise to prominence and define her vice presidency, according to them. Harris' approval numbers are still low and her speeches are dreary, the mainstream press admits. Since being tapped to handle the southern border migration crisis, she has made little headway on that issue.
While many Dems believe that Harris won't be able to win the presidency if Biden drops out of the 2024 race, some are wondering whether it will be a good idea for Joe to pick her as a running mate, again.
First, her approval rating is fluctuating around 38% (which is even lower than that of the president). Second, the Republicans will most likely focus on her failures to fix the border problem during the campaign trail. Third, one cannot rule out that if the Biden-Harris ticket wins again and something happens to the 80-year-old president, Kamala will automatically end up in the Oval Office. It appears that not so many Dems are enthusiastic about the latter scenario, according to the media.
Meanwhile, ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was quoted as saying that Harris wouldn't be able to win the Democratic primaries due to the lack of "political instincts." At the same time, Clinton's entourage insists that Hillary has built and maintained a strong bond with the incumbent vice president.
Clinton is well-known for relentlessly pursuing her own political goals. Last year, Hillary and her husband, ex-President Bill Clinton, revived the Clinton Foundation's Global Initiative, and resumed their political activity. This prompted some US outlets to ask the former secretary of state whether she was considering running in 2024. She laughed and said "no," but when it comes to Hillary, one never knows.
Even though most of Sputnik's interlocutors have on multiple occasions expressed skepticism about Hillary Clinton's election odds, some have suggested that she could have made a good king- or queen-maker.
For his part, Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel assumed in one of his interviews with Sputnik that the Dems are likely to tap former First Lady Michelle Obama as a potential presidential candidate or Biden's running mate.
There are still a lot of "ifs" and "buts," given that any new veep "shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress," in accordance with the US Constitution. While the Dems still have a razor-thin majority in the upper chamber, they ceded the House to the GOP during the November 2022 midterms. Time will tell how the Democratic Party's internal "game of thrones" pans out.