"Could also be president": Biden with rare open praise for Vice President Harris

Tagesspiegel "Could also be president": Biden with rare open praise for Vice President Harris 3 hours • 1 minute reading time The president highlights his vice president in a speech to black voters. His comments could also strengthen her position in the party. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the Roosevelt of the White House. US President Joe Biden openly praised the merits of his deputy Kamala Harris in a campaign speech to black voters. "Not only is she a great vice president, she could also be president of the United States," said the Democrat at a meeting of the civil rights movement NAACP in Las Vegas. The 81-year-old has so far been rather reserved with public praise for his vice president. At several points in his speech he highlighted what he and Harris had achieved together for the country. With his comments, Biden may have tried to score points with the black voting group. Harris is the first black woman to take the oath as US vice president. Her father once immigrated from Jamaica to study economics. Her mother - a cancer researcher and civil rights activist - came from India. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is one of the oldest organizations of the black civil rights movement in the USA. The statements are also interesting against the background of the current debate about Biden's suitability as the Democratic presidential candidate. When discussions about a possible Biden replacement flared up, the name of Biden's vice president, who had remained conspicuously pale in office, was not the first to be mentioned. But the Democrats' eyes increasingly turned to Harris. Some of her party colleagues began to publicly praise the 59-year-old's performance. (dpa)