Harris shines alongside Biden at the beach.
Kamala Harris Takes Center Stage
Kamala Harris is seizing her moment in the spotlight. With President Joe Biden enjoying some time at the beach, the vice president is stepping up her game, delivering a series of engaging speeches and taking aim at Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL).
A Forceful Presence
“I’m here in Florida, and I will tell you there is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact,” Harris boldly declared during a Tuesday appearance in Orlando. “There were no redeeming qualities of slavery.”
While critics have accused Harris of lacking energy and staying off message, some even using her potential ascent to the presidency as a reason not to vote for Biden, she has recently become much more assertive. She has engaged in battles with top GOP contender DeSantis and has filled the void left by the president with a week of high-profile speaking engagements.
“They want to replace history with lies,” she passionately stated during a speech in Jacksonville last week, where she also criticized the state’s governor. “Middle school students in Florida are being told that enslaved people benefited from slavery.”
Although detractors argue that Harris’s comments are based on a single point in a semester-long course and that she had previously praised similar courses, her speech made a significant impact. Even prominent Republicans, including Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL), both black lawmakers, echoed her concerns.
DeSantis responded by dismissing the attacks as misinformed and inviting Harris to Florida for a discussion on the state’s black history standards with one of the educators involved in their creation.
Harris, however, did not back down. She returned to Florida, where she once again criticized DeSantis before a cheering church convention in Orlando and firmly stated that she would not engage in a debate.
“This seems to be the undercard to the Biden-Trump fight — Harris vs. DeSantis,” commented Jim Clark, a professor at the University of Central Florida. “It appears that the administration has tasked her with jabbing at DeSantis, who always fights back.”
But Harris’s recent remarks about DeSantis are not the only attention-grabbing moments she has had. She also stepped in to defend her boss against impeachment talk, dismissing it as mere political games and asserting that she enjoys high approval ratings.
Her schedule itself is noteworthy. This week, Harris participated in a television interview on Monday, delivered a powerful speech in Orlando on Tuesday, met with the prime minister of Mongolia on Wednesday, spoke about infrastructure spending, and made two campaign stops in Wisconsin on Thursday, and addressed Jobs Day on Friday.
“It’s a great opportunity for her to make her case for a future presidency,” said Sasha Tirador, a Democratic strategist based in Florida. “I just wish she had done it sooner.”
A Mix of Support and Criticism
Of course, Harris also has her fair share of critics. Her approval ratings as vice president are not stellar, with only 40.7% approving and 52.7% disapproving, according to the RealClearPolitics average. These numbers are even worse than those of her beleaguered boss.
Conservatives, in particular, point to her early assignment of addressing migration at the southern border, mockingly referring to her as the Biden administration’s “border czar.” DeSantis brought up this issue in their recent exchange.
“I am prepared to meet as early as Wednesday of this week, but of course want to be deferential to your busy schedule should you already have a trip to the southern border planned for that day,” he wrote in a letter challenging her to debate Florida’s black history education. ”Please let me know as soon as possible.”
Nevertheless, despite the criticisms, Democrats like Tirador welcome the newly invigorated Harris they are witnessing.
“Everyone, including her fans, has wondered, ‘Where have you been?'” Tirador remarked. “But better late than never, absolutely.”
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