The putative vice president’s public statements suggest that we are left with two unpalatable alternatives: either the purported vice president has a poor habit of straying off script and into nonsense, or Groob is the most spectacularly inept speechwriter in history. Consider how this Harris statement on inflation was composed: “But first and foremost, I must accept that prices are going up. And that people are working hard. And in many cases, they’re concerned about whether they’ll be able to make it through the month without going bankrupt. Or this gem of wisdom on rampant inflation rates: The cost of food has risen considerably. Families and individuals are grappling with the facts of rising fuel costs.”
Last January, a speechwriter gave Harris this to say about the Biden administration’s stance on the COVID scare: “It is time for us to do what we’ve been doing. And that time is right now. Every day it’s our turn to agree that there are tools and things available to us in order to slow down this thing.” Yes, she actually said that.
There are many, many additional examples. According to Harris, the Russian war with Ukraine is as follows: “Ukraine is a European nation. It resides next to another country known as Russia. Russia is a larger country. Russia is a strong military power. Ukraine was chosen by Russia to be invaded. So, in other words, that’s incorrect.” Also: “The passage of time, right? The significance of the passage of time… There’s such tremendous significance in the passage of time.”
Some of these dates back to before Groob took the position, and it’s unlikely they were written by Harris’ speechwriting staff. After all, Groob has a Leftist elite pedigree: he previously served as a speechwriter for Bill Gates and also an editorial director at Gates Ventures, according to Politico. Whatever else may be said about him, Gates is not known for strangling the English language or making nonsense proclamations, so it’s doubtful that Groob is to blame. It’s more likely that Groob threw in the towel after a while and quit working for Harris due to her word salads.
However, it’s also true that the supposed vice president has a poor reputation for being difficult to work with. Even the NY Times, in a lengthy and sympathetic Dec. 2021 profile on Harris, included this:
Gil Duran, who worked for Ms. Harris in 2013 when she was attorney general in California, said she could be unprofessional and insulting. Mr. Duran said he quit after being on the job only five months when Ms. Harris declined to attend a briefing prior to a news conference, but then berated her staff member when she felt unprepared. “Many of us would still be with Harris if she was the Kamala Harris we all thought she would be,” Mr. Duran said.
According to the press, Kamala Harris is both vapid and demanding. It will be intriguing to see whether her public remarks become more intelligent and coherent once she hires Groob’s inept successor. That is, however, not likely to happen. There is a lot of evidence now that the problem with Kamala Harris isn’t one of personnel or speechwriting; it’s actually about Kamala Harris herself.