Is Kamala Harris Underrated?
If Joe Biden steps aside for the Democratic presidential nomination \u2014 still a very big if \u2014 the favorite to replace him is Vice President Kamala Harris. In recently leaked post-debate polling from Open Labs, Harris polled better than Biden in matchups against Trump.\n\nIn 2019, Dana Goodyear wrote in The New Yorker, \u201cAs a Black, female law-and-order Democrat, Harris creates a kind of cognitive dissonance.\u201d The profile Harris inhabited then would be welcome in an election year where disorder is on voters\u2019 minds and the Republicans are nominating a convicted felon. But Harris hasn\u2019t inhabited that political profile for years. And since becoming Biden\u2019s vice president the conventional wisdom on her has shifted: She\u2019s gone from rising star \u2014 many thought her \u201cthe next Obama\u201d \u2014 to political underachiever.\n\nSo I\u2019ve had a few questions about Harris. What accounted for the fast fall from grace after she took the vice presidency? What happened to the smart-on-crime prosecutor we once saw? What has the White House done \u2014 or not done \u2014 to build her profile? And are critics of Harris fair, or is she underrated now?\n\nI\u2019m joined by Elaina Plott Calabro, a staff writer at The Atlantic who traveled with Harris extensively for a major profile last year. I left this conversation with a very different theory of who Harris is, what her politics are and what led to the confusions of her vice presidency.\n\nMentioned:\n\n\u201cThe Kamala Harris Problem\u201d by Elaina Plott Calabro\n\n\u201cBiden Plunges in Swing States in Leaked Post-Debate Poll\u201d by Peter Hamby\n\nSmart on Crime by Kamala D. Harris, with Joan O'C. Hamilton \xb7\n\nBook Recommendations:\n\nSoutherners by Marshall Frady\n\nThe Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles\n\nThe Company She Keeps by Mary McCarthy\n\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\n\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\n\nThis episode of \u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d was produced by Elias Isquith. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones and Aman Sahota. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show\u2019s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Carole Sabouraud.