On Tuesday, two prominent California journalists threw some cold water on all of the 2020 presidential buzz Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has been receiving, shredding Harris for being narcissistic and a “shallow” show horse.
Writing at Calbuzz before going on sabbatical, Jerry Roberts, the former San Francisco Chronicle editor and Dianne Feinstein biographer, and Phil Trounstine, the former political editor at the San Jose Mercury News, said they warned readers that “weeks before the “imperious Queen Kamala took office,” the “shallow narcissist would start looking in the mirror and seeing a future president” while relying on the “bad advice from the craven whisperers around her.”
“Old-school political reporters used to say there are two kinds of pols: work horses and show horses,” they wrote. “Take a wild guess which of California’s two U.S. Senators is which.”
Though they claim Harris has been interrupted while questioning people like U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions because “she’s a black woman,” the reporters emphasize that “the bottom line on Harris is this:… There’s not much there there.”
Messrs. Roberts and Trounstine note that it did not help that former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown recently suggested “in a kissy-kissy” column that Harris, his “long-ago lover,” would not be in the Senate “if it weren’t for him.”
“Once she’s represented California for a couple of terms and can show some policy and political chops, Harris may well be someone to take seriously,” they added. “But for now she’s just the flavor of the week among the big brains in the Beltway.”
Indeed, Democrats, especially operatives who may see her as a vehicle they can use to line their pockets or enhance their profiles en route to television contracts, have been hyping Harris as the party’s next big star. Democrats are reportedly planning on enlisting Harris to fundraise for them in various 2018 Congressional races. And Harris has done her part to keep her name in the headlines, politicizing a citizenship ceremony for children and saying things like “don’t take our stuff” while opposing “Trumpcare.”