Somebody had to write this piece with a straight face.

Think about that. It might have been the most thankless task in journalism. The conversation with the editor might look like this:

Hey. You! What’s your name again? Yeah, you. Julia. I have got a plum assignment for you. You’re going to love it! Trust me. (Snicker)

Write a piece about how Kamala is a good VP. Got it? Make her look good, not, you hear? She might be on the top of the ticket next year, so do it up right, hear me?

There’s a Pulitzer in it if you succeed in making Kamala look good.

You may think I am being a bit snarky because I am. After all, the author of this ridiculous Politico piece is actually an academic, not a reporter, so she could have easily avoided the embarrassment of writing the piece at all. She actually chose to make the case for Kamala.

Someone wrote this with a straight face. And it isn't even labeled an opinion piece: https://t.co/kFDxoCsq2P

— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) July 26, 2023

We are supposed to believe that if you look at Kamala Harris’ performance through the lens of political science she really isn’t that bad.

After all, in the modern world VP is a tough job. Modern VPs have policy portfolios and political portfolios, and meshing those two roles is tough, you know? Inevitably you will get criticism.

So give her a break, man.

Harris’ candidacy was well-received at the time. But since taking office, her vice presidency has been a much bumpier ride. There have been rumblings about Biden replacing her on the ticket in 2024, though this most likely amounts to the usual speculation among pundits while we wait for something real to happen during election season. According to a recent poll, only 13 percent of Democrats would want to see her run in 2024 if Biden were unable to run. And while Harris has struggled with higher net unfavorable ratings than some recent predecessors, no one is exactly sure why. What does political science have to say about this?

Except, well, no. Everybody knows exactly why.

All the political science mumbo-jumbo (I can say that, as I have two degrees in poli sci) is a smokescreen. People think Kamala is a bad VP not because the job is impossible (it clearly is, to the extent that any political job is trying to satisfy everybody all the time), but because she is a dunce.

Scholarship on the vice presidency, the presidency and American politics points to the possibility that Harris serves at the tricky crossroads of two developments that cut in opposite directions. On the one hand, the vice presidency has been strengthened over the course of the past 40 years, raising expectations for how much power and influence she should wield in the job. On the other, party dynamics mean that vice presidents are tasked with enhancing the appeal of presidential administrations to different elements of their parties, and partisan polarization makes it unlikely that they’ll do so while attracting much cross-aisle support.

In other words, the vice presidency is two things at once — a party office, and also an executive branch office. And sometimes on top of that, it’s a third thing, too, which is a legislative office, as it was during Harris’ first two years when she was frequently needed to show up on Capitol Hill to cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate. It’s a lot to do at once.

People dislike Kamala Harris because she is vain, stupid, unlikeable, incompetent, and a diversity hire. She was chosen because of what she is, not what she does well. And it turns out that she does pretty much nothing well except for cackle about Venn diagrams and yellow school buses.

Kamala was everybody’s favorite in 2019 until she opened her mouth and pure stupidity vomited out. You can talk all about glass ceilings, racism, serving too many masters, and any number of other excuses, but none of that can hide the fact that she was so awful that even as the MSM’s favorite candidate she couldn’t even survive as a candidate long enough to get a single vote. Pete Buttigieg ran laps around her, and you know how competent he is.

She was that bad. No amount of effort could get her to the starting line, no less across the finish line.

What I found so fascinating about this piece aside from its utter absurdity was the complete lack of analysis of Harris as a politician. It really is a marvel, if you think about it. Writing a piece about how somebody is underrated without once actually discussing Harris as either a person or a politician.

Honestly. It was all about the job of VP and how difficult it is, about how she was chosen and what constituencies she does or does not appeal to.

But a total absence of actual Kamala Harris, which I suppose is symbolic of her being a totally empty suit. You can’t even write a piece about Kamala Harris being a good VP and include Kamala Harris. No accomplishments, no charisma, and nothing to show for her time in office. The author even avoided mentioning that Kamala is supposedly the border czar because that would reveal just how useless she is. Instead, we get the National Space Council as a key part of her duties.

How’s the Space Launch System working out, Kamala? Or Boeing’s Starliner?

The truth is that the Democrats have a serious problem on their hands. Joe Biden is failing before our eyes, not just metaphorically, but physically. He may not make it until next November. Kamala is next in line, and the progressives don’t want another White man. The big-money people want a winner, and that ain’t this version of Kamala.

Donors might want Newsom, but the progressive wing of the party will go nuts if they dump Kamala. So we get another in a long line of “Kamala is better than you think” pieces.

It won’t work. Which is ironic, if you think about it. How many politicians are so bad that they can’t be more appealing to their own party than a senile hair-sniffing corrupt dude who can’t even walk straight?