Harris has had, in my estimation, several opportunities to earn Ethics Hero status here in the past, and whiffed every time. Yesterday, she achieved that status by the easiest route imaginable: by simply doing her job, indeed one of the very few requirements of a job that has always been under-burdened by official duties.
Vice-President Harris officiated as the two houses of Congress met in joint session to formally count the Electoral College votes for President and certify the results. “The votes for president of the United States are as follows,” Harris declared, as she was bound to, after each state’s totals were read. “Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes.” When Republican members of Congress rose to their feet to applaud, Harris managed to look non-committal, even if she might have been thinking, “Fuck you all.”
Then: “Kamala D. Harris of the state of California has received 226 votes,” she said. The Democrats’ stood and applauded, which, I think, was more than a little tone deaf, but I don’t know, maybe that last bit of pity-applause is traditional too. Harris read the votes certifying JD Vance as our new Vice-President and ordered the results entered in the record. This led to both party’s Senators and Representatives rising to applaud, undoubtedly for strikingly different reasons. The New York Times concluded that the ovation was to recognize “the no-doubt-painful task she had just taken on without complaint or objection.”
I doubt that the GOP law-makers were applauding that, but Ethics Alarms will. This is just the third time a Veep who was also the losing candidate in a Presidential race has presided over the official act of his or her opponent’s ultimate success. First Richard Nixon had that experience in 1961, and poor Al Gore did in in 2001. Both of them had lost extremely, indeed still controversial, elections, and both had indicated that their full acceptance of the results was important to the nation and its tradition of peaceful transfers of power. Hubert Humphrey, however, Lyndon Johnson’s Vice-President who lost almost as close an election as either Nixon or Gore, couldn’t bring himself to announce the results of his own defeat. He was a no-show, and the job fell to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
So, based on a small statistical sample, there was a 33.3% chance that Harris would take a pass and maybe a larger probability, some might have reasoned, as neither Presidents John F. Kennedy or George W. Bush had been labelled as fascist threats to democracy by the individual who was supposed to anoint them. Nor had either Bush or Kennedy repeatedly used denigrating terms to describe their adversaries, as Donald Trump had (and always does). It is true that Harris’s motives may well have been less than noble, especially since her stoic act was occurring on the anniversary of the day when Trump’s refusal to accept his own defeat has metastasized into an ugly riot. “See? I can accept defeat, even by you, you big jerk,” may have been the silent message Harris intended. Here is her official message:
“The peaceful transfer of power is one of the most fundamental principles of American democracy. As much as any other principle, it is what distinguishes our system of government from monarchy or tyranny. Today, at the United States Capitol, I will perform my constitutional duty as Vice President to certify the results of the 2024 election. This duty is a sacred obligation — one I will uphold guided by love of country, loyalty to our Constitution, and unwavering faith in the American people. As we have seen, our democracy can be fragile, and it is up to then each one of us to stand up for our most cherished principles and to make sure that in America, our government always remains of the people, by the people, and for the people.
“May God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.”
Sure, that statement probably contained some shots at Trump; it also can be interpreted as self-indicting, for no Presidential administration has ever repeatedly dented the shield of democracy as often as the one she was a part of has.
Nonetheless, never mind what her motives were. Harris did her duty when she could have easily ducked it, and nobody would have held it against her. Certainly Republicans couldn’t have complained, as their now-victorious President wouldn’t even ride withincoming President Joe Biden on Inauguration Day in 2021, another important tradition that has been healthy for our Republic.
Other Trump supporters were not so astute. On social media, many users who missed middle school civics expressed outrage that the four tellers who confirmed each state’s electoral certificates addressed Harris as “Madam President.” Morons. When presiding over the Senate, a VP’s official position is President of the Senate (“presiding,” “president,” get it?) and that is the role Harris was performing yesterday.
So consider this Ethics Alarms’ parting gift to a figure on the political scene whose presence will not be missed, by me, or, I suspect, anyone. With any luck, it will be my final opportunity to write about Kamala Harris at all.
Ethics Alarms 
Democrat street-level activists would probably *actually* burn down 60% of the downtown DC area if they even had the slightest inkling that the DNC leadership wanted them to do a “J6 protest just the the GOP did!”. So it’s smart for the Democrats to play as close to tradition as possible.
Good job Kamala. You spoke in public without cackling psychotically for the first time in 4 years. Yay!
Anyway, the nation was saved from having to listen to her voice and now let’s get to planning our 250th birthday – you know it will be a banger under GOP guidance instead of the self-loathing Constitution-flagellating slog that the DNC one will be.
And that, even ignoring all the other good things, is enough to be happy about the outcome of the election.
Well, good. Consider what Pelosi did for Trump’s speech perhaps this was a bigger achievement then your giving her credit for (and you are giving her credit).
Anyway, I found Gore’s certification. There was no clapping or standing until the end. In fact, the room looks mostly empty.
https://www.instagram.com/cspan/reel/DEfkseBxLl-/
So, I guess Biden and Trump will get to ride together to an inauguration after all.
Maybe, just to even things up, they could do it twice. Ride to the inauguration, then change seats so Biden’s in the president-elect seat and do it again.
What do you think?
Great idea! Its the kind of thing Trump might even propose, to drive Democrats crazy.
Agreed, she did what she was obliged to do, with aplomb. For that I applaud her. Her opening statement was un neccesary, and as you pointed out contained digs. If she was truthful perhaps she should have confessed “As we have seen, our democracy can be fragile, I and my party worked very hard to take advantage of that fragility, and detroy our American way of life and government.”
I am fairly certain, Jack, that the lack of contriteness of Ms. Harris, her Democratic party, and the Axis will not permit you the enjoyment of your final words- “With any luck, it will be my final opportunity to write about Kamala Harris at all.”
To paraphrase the Terminator, “They’ll be back!”
The biggest problem with “Our democracy can be fragile” statement and its ilk is that it contains the assumption that ‘our democracy’ was on the verge of being overthrown on January 6, 2021.
Nope. It absorbed those little pin pricks and went on trucking. The Capital riot didn’t delay the presidential certification by even a day. Everywhere our democratic systems were stress tested in 2020/2021 they passed.
The Founders didn’t design this system of government with the idea that everyone involved would be pure of heart and honest as the day is long. No, they designed it to withstand the scoundrels and scallywags that they knew always are with us.
I think they did a pretty damn fine job. Shall we go for another quarter millennium?
I agree 100%. The very definition of acting ethically is doing your duty when it is excruciatingly painful to you personally. “She just did her job” is a facile sentiment, even if technically true. Military men and women who lose their lives or limbs in battle are just “doing their job,” but we are smart enough to know that it cannot be reduced to that simplistic observation.
No, Kamala’s actions do not compare to those of the military, but her actions came at a notable personal cost. Good for her.
Meh, she could’ve acted badly or just been absent, but she showed up and did her job, which is neither praiseworthy nor worthy of contempt. I would not have recommended her for accolades as an ethics hero, since that would just be keeping with the (now) cultural tradition of giving people participation awards. She participated and that’s it… next.
Yep. I was surprised to see this post because Jack usually acknowledges that simply doing the bare minimum of what’s expected of you doesn’t qualify you for ethics hero status, but maybe Jack is looking for an opportunity to recognize the Democrats in a positive way somehow.
It is good to acknowledge positive actions, but in all reality doing your job by meeting expectations is not praiseworthy. Those that showed contempt for VP Harris’s performance do deserve to be derided for their poor behavior, otherwise this is a non-event.
My only comment on the matter was that it seemed classless for the Republicans to give a standing ovation when the votes for Trump were called. It seemed like a gratuitous gesture to rub her nose in the defeat.
Maybe that is typical and my complaint is misguided. I just get annoyed trying to watch things like the State of the Union, where things are interrupted CONSTANTLY by applause. Maybe that is just a bias of mine, because you would never see such behavior in a courtroom. Maybe the Rules of Decorum are different in the legislative branch.
I think the rules in the judicial branch are better.
-Jut
Good for VP Harris. We watched a “rerun” of the proceedings and – while she may have been seething on the inside – she did her job with no shenanigans and minimal digging at President Trump. I suppose it’s possible that she eased the pain and downed three fingers of vodka a couple of times before walking to the gavel, but I didn’t see any indication of that.
Fortunately, certifying the election apparently doesn’t require reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Sorry, I’m not as forgiving, or inclined to award a “hero” designation, to someone who finally does one small part of an assigned job she’s been paid about a quarter of a million a year ( plus major perks) to do. It’s about time; in the private sector, she would have been fired long ago, not given a bonus for one partial day’s work.
Yeah, I expected this reaction. But human beings can only be judged by what they are capable of doing. For a hyper-partisan, shallow elected official like Kamala Harris, this is heroic. When a four year old shares her candy with a little boy hwo has none, you praise her. It has long been clear to me that Donald Trump lacks any ethical instincts at all, but but when I see him do something that runs counter to this tendency, even if it is an act that would come naturally to someone else, I’ll praise him for it. (Trump has never been an EA Ethics Hero: I just checked. Hillary Clinton has. Bill Clinton has. Joe Biden has. Jimmy Carter (twice). Barack and Michelle Obama have. Mitt Romney. The New York Yankees.)
Trump has a very low bar to clear to get this honor. So did Harris. She cleared it.
Insulting four year olds with a comparison to Harris is uncalled for 😉 most of them can learn.
I wonder if the ASPCA would consider a posthumous award for Mr. Schickelgruber? He was nice to dogs.
The New York Yankees: Ethics Heroes!
And a thousand pigs immediately take wing from the Bronx and head north to pay their respects to Fenway Park.
I suspect she wouldn’t have passed up the opportunity to preside over the certification as it is likely the last time she’ll be able to appear in public as anything other than the worst candidate to have ever been nominated by a major party to run for president of the United States. The first gentleman may have to go back to filling out time sheets. It’s not as if anyone’s going to give them a house in Montecito or on Martha’s Vineyard. I doubt she’ll even get any book deals. She’s absolute toast and no one who has any political aspirations will want to be associated with her.