Chill. Let this Black woman do her job, please. People have been questioning (including The Root) if Vice President Kamala Harris is being used effectively. We’re basically questioning the assignments she’s been put in charge of.
Why are we so caught up on whether Harris is getting enough work? To be honest, I can’t figure out if people are being mean spirited or watching out for her. However, in an interview with “Good Morning America” Co-Anchor George Stephanopoulos, Harris let us know that she’s having no doubts about her performance as Vice President.
If she sounds a little defensive, let me give some context. Less than a week ago, CNN caught some heat for a piece on the political challenges Harris and her team have faced since being elected and that people in the White House are frustrated with Harris and her team.
The CNN story included the idea that Harris is indifferent towards pushing Biden’s agenda and is more focused on her run for President in 2024. I mean what the Vice President hasn’t thought about being President? Look at Joe Biden!
But for Harris, she sounds like she has all the confidence in the world in the job she’s done. And why shouldn’t she?
She’s the first woman, first African-American and first Asian-American to be Vice President of the United States. I mean if that was me, I’d be feeling myself a little. As she should be!
From GMA:
“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 answered. “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.”
“So, you don’t feel misused or underused?” Stephanopoulos followed up.
“No,” Harris said. “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.”
The Vice President should feel this way. I mean earlier this month she called on Congress to protect voting rights by passing the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
I understand that so much in the last year has been about race and people of color being put in positions of power. Harris being elected as Vice President was a historical event that many people were hoping to see in their lifetime.
But when those people of color are put in positions of power, there are always going to be questions about their performance and if they are qualified to “get the job done.”
But let’s calm down. Be patient. There is still plenty of work for Harris and Biden to do. No one is saying she does not need to be held accountable. What I am saying is let’s wait and see.