West Wing Second Season Surprise
Why did Biden send Harris South?
Jack Hughes channels his inner Toby Ziegler this week and has a theory about why Joe Biden is sticking Kamala Harris with the immigration portfolio.
by Jack Hughes
One of the best episodes of the hit NBC political drama The West Wing is the second season’s 17 People. It opens with a montage of the White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler trying to get his head around why Vice President John Hoynes has been actively campaigning. As he works it through, the accompanying musical score is punctuated by the percussive rhythm of Ziegler bouncing a ball in his office.
Ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk…
Fans of show will remember that after several late nights of dedicated deep thought and discursive discussions with White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, Ziegler comes to the eventual realization that something far, far more serious is afoot. I’ve thought about that scene a lot, and channeled my inner-Toby, while reading recent stories about President Joe Biden’s White House and Vice President Kamala Harris.
It began with a CNN story quoting an unnamed White House official who suggested Harris was less than keen to be seen as in charge of the U.S. southern border. Having been tapped by President Biden to lead the Administration’s response to immigration, the official said the vice president and her team were ‘panicked’ that her mandate would be mischaracterized as Harris being the White House’s Mexican Border Czar.
The story wasn’t notable because the Vice President and her staff thought the border was a political minefield – it most certainly is – but, rather, because a White House official was privately briefing against her to one of the country’s largest and most influential media outlets. The Biden Administration is not yet six months old and yet here’s an official seeking to portray the vice president in a less than favorable light.
Now, yes, it was just one official – two other officials quoted in the story rejected their characterization of the situation – and, as such, if it had been an isolated incident I suspect I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But the thing is it wasn’t an isolated incident. A week later, CNN ran a second story in which unnamed White House sources were reportedly “quietly perplexed” by the Vice President’s actions.
Ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk…
The second story followed Harris’ trip to Mexico and Guatemala during which she offered up some unexpected answers to questions she should have expected. For one, when asked why she was going to Mexico but hadn’t yet gone to the U.S.-Mexico border, Harris said “and I haven’t been to Europe. And, I mean, I don’t…I don’t understand the point you’re making.” But, again, this is less about Harris than Biden.
As Biden himself would know, vice presidents underperform all the time. The issue is how the White House responds. Here, in the space of a week, one or more White House officials have reacted in a way that led CNN to use adjectives like ‘panicked’ and ‘perplexed’ in relation to Harris – neither of which are votes of confidence. And that, then, begs the question why isn’t the Biden White House circling the wagons?
Ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk…
When Toby Ziegler was working through his conundrum on The West Wing, he went to Leo McGarry looking for answers – asking him, among other things: “It’s never happened before, right? A vice president would never challenge a sitting president for the nomination?” McGarry responds dismissively with “of course not,” which leads Toby to ask: “Why does Hoynes think the president isn’t going to run again?”
The reason, spoiler alert, is that President Bartlet had privately made a deal with the First Lady that he’d only serve one term due to an undisclosed medical condition. It was never made entirely clear, but subsequent episodes suggest that Vice President Hoynes was aware of it and that’s why he didn’t think Bartlet was going to run again. Is a similar scenario at play now between President Biden and Vice President Harris?
Ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk…
Back in December 2019, Politico ran a story which reported that the then-77-year-old candidate Joe Biden had signaled to his campaign staff that if he were elected president he would only serve one term. Biden was trailing in the polls at the time, and his campaign reportedly gave thought to making a public pledge to that effect to counter concerns about his age – but, in the end, Biden only gave ‘quiet’ assurances.
“And if, as appears increasingly likely, Biden wants to stick around for two terms, Harris could become not just inevitable but unassailable as the next [2028] Democratic nominee.”
Biden and Harris have denied he made any commitment to her that he wouldn’t seek re-election when he asked her to become his vice-presidential nominee. But if, as Politico reported, Biden was “quietly indicating that he will almost certainly not run for a second term while declining to make a promise that he and his advisers fear could turn him into a lame duck and sap him of his political capital,” it’d make sense.
And that brings us to the last story which caught my eye. The same week unnamed White House sources openly mused about a perplexing, panic-stricken vice president, New York Magazine ran a story which contained the following line: “And if, as appears increasingly likely, Biden wants to stick around for two terms, Harris could become not just inevitable but unassailable as the next [2028] Democratic nominee.”
Ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk…
Let’s assume for a moment that Biden, like Bartlet, had given his running mate an election year commitment that he wouldn’t seek a second term. It may not have been the only condition upon which Harris, or Hoynes, agreed to be on the ticket – but it would’ve likely been a consideration. Let’s also assume that Biden, like Bartlet, had a change of heart once in the Oval Office. Would Harris, like Hoynes, be unhappy?
When Biden gave his first televised press conference as president in late March, he was asked whether he intended to run again. His answer was appropriately caveated, “That’s my expectation.” To ensure nobody missed the intended nuance, he later added “I said that’s my expectation…I’ve never been able to plan four and a half, three and a half years ahead for certain.” But what if, two months later, he is certain?
In that very specific circumstance, wouldn’t it be politically beneficial for Biden and his closest advisors to begin laying the groundwork for a re-election bid? And, in so doing, wouldn’t it be prudent to prepare to defend against potential challengers who might argue that, at 82, Biden is too old? And, if so, wouldn’t the best defense be that younger candidates – the most likely candidates – aren’t ready for prime time?
Ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk…
Jack Hughes is a communications consultant based in Canada. His previous contributions to The Experiment include “Same of Thrones,” “Tippecanoe and Agnew Anew,” “Harris / Shuri 2020,” “Bidenfeld,” “Firth and Firthiness,” “The Ballot of Bill McKay,” and “The World Wants ‘The West Wing,’” among others. His inexplicably extensive writings on Dan Quayle are “The Unusual Suspect,” “The Unusual Suspect II,” “The GOPfather,” “Porqua, CoQau?” and “Quayle’s Hunting Season.” Connect with him on LinkedIn here.
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