After meeting with Israel’s prime minister this week, Vice President Kamala Harris said she "will not be silent.” She was referring to her concerns about Palestinian suffering in the war in the Gaza Strip, but in a way, it was a larger declaration of independence.
For nearly four years, she has been the quiet understudy, relegated to the role of the supportive deputy while President Joe Biden made pronouncements. Now she has suddenly been thrust to the fore as the new presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and neither silence nor agreeable head nods are sufficient anymore.
The challenge for her over the next 100 days will be to find her own voice without overtly breaking with Biden, a delicate political high-wire act without a reliable net. Every statement she makes, every sentence she utters, will be scrutinized to determine whether it is consistent with the president she serves. Yet even as she wants to demonstrate loyalty to Biden, she also hopes to show the public who she is.