Viewers of Veep, the television series broadcast by Sky, have skyrocketed since Kamala Harris became the Democratic candidate for the White House.
Like Selina Meyer, the show’s fictional vice president, she is closer than ever to becoming the first female president.
The prospect is tempting Harris but the omens are not all good. It is true that of the 46 presidents in US history so far, 15 previously served as vice presidents. But nine of them got there because they were just “a heartbeat away” from the presidency.
The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires that the vice president automatically assume the office of “leader of the free world” if the president dies, is incapacitated, or resigns, as Nixon did.
Nine of the last vice presidents of both parties who have sought the nomination have achieved it. The exception was George HW Bush’s vice president, Dan “Potatoe” Quayle.
The chances of ever being elected president are very uncertain when, like Harris now, vice presidents run to succeed their boss while still serving under him.
In 1988, George Bush Sr. was the first sitting vice president to win an election since Martin van Buren in 1836. Harry S. Truman’s vice president, Alban Barclay, lost his candidacy, as did Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, and the vice president of Clinton, Al Gore, in the disputed “hanging chads” election of 2000.
Joe Biden and Richard Nixon had better luck when they ran a few years into their terms as vice presidents.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of the most celebrated presidents of the 20th century, was defeated as a vice presidential candidate in 1920, but was elected president four times in 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944. He died in 1945. The last vice president, Truman, took office. post.
John “Cactus Jack” Nance Garner, FDR’s vice president during his first two terms, was considered too old to continue at age 71 and instead ran, unsuccessfully, against Roosevelt. He is remembered for dismissing the vice presidency as “a bucket of hot spit” (or other bodily fluid).
A century earlier, Daniel Webster had declined the invitation to serve, explaining: “I do not intend to be dead until I am buried.”
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A two-term limit on the presidency was introduced after FDR. This made the deputy role more attractive, but the vice president’s job is still one of prestige without real power.
It is difficult to emerge convincingly as a national leader after being overshadowed by the current president for four to eight years.
A vice president running for president becomes the embodiment of the last administration and seemingly offers little prospect of “change.”
However, many have not had a close relationship or much influence over “their” president. George W. Bush’s powerful vice president, Dick Cheney, is the exception here.
Fortunately for Harris, these precedents do not suit her, and not because she is the first woman and the first person of color to be vice president.
He has assumed power under unique circumstances. Biden resigned due to age and disability, but will remain president until the end of his term in January 2025.
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Harris has the advantage that he has given her his unconditional support and will campaign hard for her. Her legacy as president depends on her winning. Otherwise, he will be remembered as a stubborn old man who should have stayed out of it long ago.
With just 100 days until the election, Harris has received endorsements from every major Democrat, including the Clintons and the Bidens.
He heads to the Democratic Party convention next month in Chicago with millions of dollars in campaign donations flowing again and having already secured enough delegates to guarantee the nomination.
Unlike other vice presidents, Harris is now “the candidate of change” in this election, which is often an attractive prospect for voters. Donald Trump is a known quantity. The United States has already had him as president for four years.
At 78 years old and without Biden, Trump claims the inconvenient record of being the oldest candidate of the main parties in presidential history. Republicans quickly abandoned their demands for testing of nominees’ mental abilities.
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Harris has room to maneuver on key issues such as abortion and Gaza, on which Biden’s long-standing views were well known.
In the coming days he will choose his running mate for the vice presidency. She is expected to make a conventional selection of an experienced white politician, probably from a swing state. Some voters may find this reassuring. More importantly, this should broaden the appeal of the Democratic ticket.
In the weeks following Biden’s disastrous television debate performance, it appeared that Trump was on his way to victory.
He had the luxury of choosing a hardline running mate who would act for his core supporters. JD Vance is starting to look like a bad choice after Biden withdraws. He lacks Trump’s twisted humor and is a crueler culture warrior.
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Comments have emerged from his 2021 Senate race, in which he nominated Harris and complained that the United States was being run by “a bunch of childless cat women who are miserable with their own lives and the decisions they have made.” taken and that’s why we want to make the rest of the country miserable too.
Viral online outrage is mounting, further inflamed by Vance’s opposition to fertility treatment and abortion.
Although Biden has warned that Democrats remain the underdogs, Harris’s arrival has allayed fears that they face electoral annihilation in November.
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She is riding high even though there is little evidence that she would have been chosen as the Democratic nominee if Biden had retired earlier or not run for a second term.
Harris abandoned her bid for the 2020 nomination before the primary season began due to a lack of funding.
She has faced persistent criticism as vice president, perhaps because of her sex, perhaps because of the “curse of the vice presidency,” perhaps because Biden gave her the hospitable pass of dealing with the border and immigration. She has been blamed for rapid staff turnover and some weak media interviews.
All that seems to be a thing of the past as she embarks on the election campaign with vigor and confidence.
Biden says he must “pass the torch to save democracy.” “There is a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices,” he admitted last week. “That time and place is now.”
Harris has the experience necessary for the position of lawyer, senator and vice president of the United States. This year he is “only” 60 years old.
As its striking image competes with the photograph of Donald Trump with blood on his face, this Veep is not a television comedy act. His is a vice presidential run for the White House like no other.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
