Kamala Harris dropped out of the race for the presidency before her campaign had reached her home state of California. She had precisely zero point zero delegates with virtually no campaign money when she augered in. Had she stayed in the race, she would have garnered the same support. Zero. Harris was as popular as a canker sore.  

But Harris had two trump cards. She was black and a woman — so she still had an avenue to the White House. Joe Biden had promised to pick a running mate not based on talent or political savvy but on color and gender. Harris knew she was on the shortlist for VP.  The position that one VP described as "not worth a warm bucket of spit”, was still one missed heartbeat from the presidency. Harris was picked for her only winning characteristics. And, it seemed, she was a perfect fit to be the reining warm bucket of spit.  

Harris has exceeded expectations. But not in a good way. She turned out to be more inept than I thought possible. Her poll numbers are stunningly bad. She is the least popular VP in modern polling – and the reasons are obvious. Harris speaks in empty platitudes in a nasally voice that should be classified as a toxin. Every "job" Biden has handed her, she has failed at. Her favorite “go-to” phrase is an expression that author Douglas Murray recognized as nonsense.  

Here are four straight minutes of Kamala Harris being "unburdened" pic.twitter.com/S4X5mfGKRm

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 17, 2023

"I can imagine what can be, unburdened by what has been.”  

What does she mean?  

The phrase is undeniably unusual. The grammar is rather intricate, and it's unclear which is the subject: "what has been" or "what can be." Does "what has been" (the past) work to "unburden" "what can be" (the future), or is "what has been" a possible burden on "what can be" and Kamala is expressing a hope that the future won't be burdened by the worries and hang-ups of the past? 

Although Harris believes she is being “wise,” she is not. Murray said: 

“One way you can tell that it isn’t wise, is that no one else has said it”  

She seems sentient (which is a step up from Joe’s mental acuity), but she is stunningly bad at public speaking. Her word salads are legendary. Within that context, of Harris being remarkably unworthy of being first in line to take the oath as the president, she is, nonetheless, first in line to assume the presidency. If Joe’s brain doesn’t reboot tomorrow morning, Harris could be sworn in as president by the afternoon. So where does that leave Harris? In public, she is supporting the man who put her on the ticket. Harris has no other choice. She has to support Biden publicly.  

CNN reports that, in public, Harris and her team are hitching her fate to the falling star. 

The mandate among Harris campaign staff is to remain firm, stay in line and keep the focus on the Biden-Harris ticket, one source told CNN. The vice president’s staff received similar guidance in a virtual staff meeting Monday to follow the vice president’s lead and keep heads down, another source told CNN. 

The internal marching orders echo the message Harris is taking on the trail. On Tuesday, Harris again batted down the idea of running in Biden’s place during a brief interview with CBS. 

“Look, Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once and we’re going to beat him again, period,” she said. 

“I am proud to be Joe Biden’s running mate,” she later added. 

Does that mean that Harris supports Biden? Not in the least. She's an ambitious political animal. Harris is one Biden-brain-aneurism away from the Oval Office. She can taste it. Harris has been measuring the drapes since she was tapped for VP, and she is as close to the throne as she ever will be.  

She can imagine what can be, unburdened by what was Biden.