President Biden has a problem. Vice President Kamala Harris as well. Senator Diana Feinstein

is

a problem. There is a solution for all this.

Biden’s problem is Harris. She is a burden on his re-election prospects.

Feinstein, 90, is a problem for California because she is no longer able to fully represent the country’s most populous state, a world-class economic power, in the Senate.

A reader emailed me with the cure: Feinstein could resign from the Senate and Gov. Gavin Newsom could appoint Harris to replace her. Biden could then find a more popular running mate, one more acceptable to voters as a potential successor.

Tackles multiple issues, wrote Blaine Cavena of Pasadena, a retired technology consultant and self-proclaimed political centrist. But probably just a dream.

You are right on all counts, I replied.

A good idea. But it will never happen because it would take all the persuasion and coercive power of the president to pull it off. probably do that.

Feinstein has made it clear she does not intend to voluntarily step down before her fifth full term ends at the end of next year. Biden should invite her to the Oval Office for a personal interview. She’s been a great senator with a lot to be proud of, but it’s time to let loose for the sake of the country, the states, and her own heddrang, speaking like an old senator herself and a former colleague.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) should strongly support the motion.

Then there would be an even more difficult task for Biden.

Harris will never voluntarily relinquish the vice presidency. She is one step the proverbial heartbeat of the top job, serving an 80-year-old president. Eight of our previous 45 presidents have died in office.

Harris should be dumped, as two great presidents have done. Franklin D Roosevelt dropped Henry Wallace in 1944 and luckily replaced him with Harry Truman. Abraham Lincoln cast alongside Hannibal Hamlin in 1864.

But Biden would have to admit that he made a mistake in choosing Harris in the first place. He felt politically obligated to name a black woman in 2020. But he had the more likeable Karen Bass, the California

N

congressman who was later elected mayor of Los Angeles.

Biden apparently chose Harris largely because of an expected comfort level based on her close working relationship with his late son, Beau, when they were both attorney generals.

Biden showed continued support for Harris in a fundraising campaign last week, stating that choosing Kamala as my eventual vice president was one of the best decisions I made as a presidential candidate. He called Harris the perfect choice and claimed he was impressed by her fight for the good.

But that’s not how many remember Harris as the California Attorney General. She tended not to touch on politically difficult issues.

For example, although she has been an opponent of the death penalty throughout her career, she was publicly neutral in 2012 and 2016 on ballot initiatives to abolish the death penalty. Both measures failed. Nor did she take a position on a proposal to hasten the death penalty. It passed quickly.

Harris was elected to the Senate in 2016 and soon began running for president. She was eventually run over and pulled out in time to avoid embarrassment in her own state’s 2020 primary.

As vice president, her approval ratings have plummeted. Last week, 40% of registered voters had a positive opinion of Harris and 53% had an unfavorable opinion of her, according to polls conducted by the Los Angeles Times.

An NBC poll in June found that only 32% of voters had a positive view of Harris, while 49% had a negative view. It was the lowest net negative rating for a vice president in polling history, the network said.

Due to Biden’s age and speculation about his ability to serve a full second term, Republicans are already targeting Harris in the 2024 presidential race.

A vote for President Biden, it’s actually a vote for President Harris. We run against Kamala Harris. Don’t make a big deal of it, former governor of South Carolina. Nikki Haley, a GOP candidate, recently told Fox and Friends.

Is Harris subject to extraordinarily rigorous scrutiny and discrimination because she is a woman and a person of color? Maybe to some extent. But that is by no means her total problem.

She would probably be better off in her old Senate job.

Two problems with that: to keep her seat beyond 2024, she must run against a strong field in next year’s senate election and officially submit her candidacy by Dec. 21. 13.

And Feinstein isn’t going anywhere without a strong push.

It is a pity. She may have been the most effective senator in California history. She is the longest-serving and, along with Barbara Boxer, the first female senator elected from California.

But she is no longer capable of a senate performance that meets her own high standards.

Too much attention has been paid to Feinstein’s physical weaknesses, especially her use of a wheelchair. So?

FDR Franklin D Roosevelt

used one and so does the Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott today. The senators briefed last week about hospitalization due to a routine fall in the kitchen and reminded voters of their physical vulnerabilities.

However, the issues related to Feinstein’s Senate performance are related to declining mental agility and gradual memory loss. That has been well reported.

It’s hard, Newsom told reporters last week, calling Feinstein an icon and mentor. I wish we were talking about her legacy in a completely different way.

Feinstein’s legacy as a grand senator is secured. But discussing her immediate future is warranted, even if forgotten on a midsummer night’s fantasy.