Vice President Kamala Harris awkwardly cited President Joe Biden’s physical existence on Sunday when questioned about potentially seeking the 2024 Democrat nomination.
Harris, who is one of the most unpopular vice presidents, clumsily backed Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign during a CBS News interview, as her political capital among the Democrat party appears low.
Just 75 percent of members of her own party view the vice president favorably, with only 35 percent of all voters hold the same view, recent Civiqs polling revealed. However, most voters have “major” concern about Joe Biden’s age and health, a recent NBC News poll found, raising concerns of Joe Biden political viability.
CBS reporter Bill Whitaker confronted Harris about her unpopularity and asked why some Democrats do not support her as a successor to Biden.
“We were talking to some Democratic donors,” Whitaker prefaced. “And they’ve told us that should something befall President Biden, and he’s not able to run, that there would be a free for all for who would run as president.”
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“You are in the spot that would be a natural for you to step up, but we’re hearing from donors that they would not naturally fall into line. Why is that?”
Harris replied with a big smile that she would not engage in hypotheticals “because Joe Biden is very much alive and running for reelection.”
Whitaker pressured Harris further by suggesting it should be a concern for the vice president to be disfavored in an open Democrat primary. “That is a concern and a legitimate concern,” he said.
Harris dismissed Whitaker’s concern by stating her schedule does not have time for reelection “games.”
“I hear from a lot of different people a lot of different things, but let me just tell you,” she said grinning, “I’m focused on the job. I truly am. Our democracy is on the line, Bill. And I frankly in my head do not have time for parlor games when we have a president who was running for reelection.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.