A friend writes:

Let’s talk about the vice president.

There are memes and arguments going around that Kamala Harris has performed badly (or not at all) as our vice president. The White House and the Democrats have not done much to educate the public about her role and accomplishments.

And that’s probably true of most vice presidents. The only memory I have of Mike Pence is his action to prevent a coup when Donald Trump wanted to stay in power after losing an election. And my recollection of Joe Biden in the Obama administration is almost entirely limited to humor about his friendship with the president.

The Constitution requires only two things of the vice president. They must take on the duties of the presidency if the president dies or is unable to perform those duties. And the vice president must serve as president of the Senate.

Kamala Harris has not been called upon to perform presidential duties. But she has presided over the Senate, breaking more tie votes than any vice president in US history.

The MAGA world calls her the “border czar” and gives her a failing grade for that assignment. But she was never the border czar. Her actual charge by the president was to study the situation in Central American countries like Guatemala to gain a better understanding of the reasons their citizens leave to cross the border — and to offer solutions.

She did that, and she did it well. She held multiple meetings with those countries’ leaders, she talked to experts, she read, she devised solutions. She negotiated with American companies in fields like agribusiness and factory production to invest in Central American countries, and they have kept the first few years of those long-term pledges. She brought in non-profit solutions as well.

Border crossings from those countries did decrease. She completed her assignment and should receive a more-than-passing grade.

[Note that the Trump administration did not complete its border assignment. It built less than 50 miles of new border wall, and it billed us, the taxpayer (not Mexico, as promised) for the construction.]

A lot of what a VP does is behind the scenes, advising and collaborating with the president. Harris played a major role in the selection of Supreme Court Justice K. B. Jackson. She was a leader in negotiating the August 2024 prisoner swap with Russia — the largest such exchange since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

She worked with the president to craft the student loan forgiveness program. She has educated herself about the catastrophic impact of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade and has become the administration’s voice on the abortion issue (President Biden being in the tough role of pro-choice Catholic).

The fact that Harris’s work hasn’t been promoted or even reported on, in some cases, doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. She has served the American public in diverse and important ways. People who’ve worked with her report that she is deliberate and methodical, asking questions, zeroing in on major points, and holding concise briefings as she addresses an issue.

She is exactly the leader we need in this time of complex problems, misinformation, and social division. She has the intelligence, background, stamina, and empathy to make progress with our issues. She has been, all along.