Kamala Harris is many things, but she is not a leader, in spite of every lie put out there.
Leadership is the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation to accomplish the mission and improving the organization.
US Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 6-22, Army Leadership
In a few weeks I will join multiple authors on this site at an Army reunion called the Council of Colonels. It has expanded from our original group of two-dozen attendees in Galveston TX over fifteen years to several dozen and spouses. We enjoy each other’s company, it’s enriching to discuss current affairs and other items with such experienced and learned people, and to catch up with friends who have served together in multiple areas of the globe.
I want to say it was ten years ago this November, over a roaring fire, cigars, and copious amounts of brown water, we were discussing the leadership coming out of Washington DC. Colonel (R) Mike Ford made a very astute point about the then president, Barrack Obama. “Look at this group here,” pointing out the attendees. In the gathering were two retired generals, around fifteen each colonel and lieutenant colonels, smaller numbers of majors and senior non-commissioned officers. “Any one of us has orders of magnitude more leadership, executive, and managerial experience than Barrack Obama had when he assumed the highest office in the land. And all of us would be the first to say, ‘I am not qualified to be president.’”
Put the then president into perspective. I would add that group still has more leadership, executive and managerial experience than Obama.
A few months back, after the Democratic convention, an associate of the members posted how he knew Kamala Harris was a “leader” by the way she carried herself on the stage and read the Teleprompter. I thought it was pathetic when Chris Mathews said listening to Obama speak, “…I felt this thrill going up my leg…” I had to ask (yes, I am a bit of a masochist in this), “I know I’m going to regret asking, but how is Kamala Harris a ‘leader’ in your way of thinking.”
I had good idea what his retort would be and he didn’t disappoint. He didn’t answer this simple question. He simply went from one red herring about “leadership” to another (e.g., “there are different types of leaders…”) and sent a few personal insults to me. Again, no surprise. Unfortunately the only person I know of more gaslit than him is George “Gaslight” Takei, who worships the party that put him and his family into a camp in 1942.
Leadership requires a lot, and most leaders are not but created over a lifetime of training, experience, work, putting themselves out front of others and saying two words, “Follow me!” Leaders have achievement, and failure, but they are always moving forward for a common good, a goal. Something greater than them. I’ve looked over Ms. Harris’ career, and I really can’t see much of that.
After a career in San Francisco politics that only would be achievable by her personal relationship with former Mayor Willie Brown, the California Democratic machine anointed her as Barbara Boxer’s replacement in the Senate. She made her beliefs of the border invasion very obvious, vowing to stay in officer as California AG and push back against the Trump plans for stricter border controls and deportations. For a woman swearing today she will “build a wall” to protect Americans from the invasion she caused, in 2016 she called incoming President Trump’s plan for a barrier “absolutely unrealistic.”
I generally don’t think of leaders as bold faced liars like this.
Of the other two issues Ms. Harris was tasked with, abortion rights and pushing through the federalization of voting procedures (John Lewis Act), neither has passed. For a woman who recently was looked at by fellow Democrats as a weight on the party who should leave, there is a lot to show for that. She is not very accomplished, and there is the other major issue. She is not a leader.
I’ve worked for men and women who drove me hard, were not very approachable, but no question in my mine they were leaders. They pushed their team forward in an effort to achieve a goal. Something leaders know, there is no “I” in team. Again, I’ve worked for some unpleasant people in the past, but if they were good leaders, I would volunteer to follow them again. Ms. Harris has a reputation that borders the late not-great Shelia “Shirley” Jackson-Lee, congresswoman from Houston, and that ain’t good.
Our current Vice President? From a recent article in National Review (emphasis mine):
Throughout her career as a senator and then vice president, Kamala Harris developed a reputation as a difficult boss who struggles to retain staff due to the atmosphere of suspicion and disorder that tends to develop among her subordinates.
Data from the government watchdog group Open the Books — released Monday, as Harris consolidates her position as President Biden’s successor atop the Democratic ticket — makes clear just how extreme Harris’s personnel problem really is: 91.5 percent of the staff Harris began her vice presidential term with three years ago have since left…
…While high turnover is typical for a vice presidential staff, the level of churn — and public backbiting — in Harris’s office stands out…
…Only four of the initial 47 staffers Harris brought in with her in 2021 are still employed in her office, as of March 31, 2024, Open the Books found: Yael S. Belkind, assistant to the chief of staff, Nasrina Bargzie, former associate counsel and current deputy council, Oludayo O. Faderin, former associate director and current deputy director of west wing operations, and Olivia K. Hartman, former advance coordinator and current deputy director of scheduling.
From April 2023 to March 2024, 24 individuals left their jobs in Harris’s office.
Harris’s former staffers, from her time as San Francisco’s district attorney, California attorney general, and a U.S. senator, blew the whistle on Harris’s reportedly toxic workplace culture to Business Insider in 2021. An insider told Politico around the same time that the OVP under Harris “is not a healthy environment and people often feel mistreated.”
Leadership is people business. You have to know how to handle people, focus them, inspire them, and yes, drive them to a common goal. If there is pushback, you must push forward, stay focused. But when you have entire staffs leaving instead of staying on, it shows something. Insecurity on the party of the head of the organization.
A leader must be sure of himself to be able to bring out the best in others. Ms. Harris’s reputation shows the exact opposite. Any opposition is a personal affront to her and she will not tolerate it. Ms. Harris is not a leader or a “public servant,” but a power-hungry politician who will not be stopped in her drive to the top (I’ve seen multiple “politicians in uniform” and “politicians with a badge” like her in my time in service).
Coach Vince Lombardi said it well:
It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men. Men respond to leadership in a most remarkable way and once you have won his heart, he will follow you anywhere.
A leader must identify himself with the group, must back up the group, even at the risk of displeasing superiors. He must believe that the group wants from him a sense of approval. If this feeling prevails, production, discipline, morale will be high, and in return, you can demand the cooperation to promote the goals of the community.
Ms. Harris in no way understands the need to win the hearts and minds of the American people, and the need for the American citizen to support her. She is an ambitious politician whose only goal is not achievement for a group (be it a team, or a nation), but her advancement from one level to another. And one surrounded by people who literally hate this country, which says a lot about her. After 12 years of Obama/O’Biden, we cannot live through four to eight years of O’Harris.
Another great woman and leader, the late Baroness Margaret Thatcher, said it better than I or many others could, “Being a leader is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are one, you’re not.”
Are you listening Ms. Harris?
Michael A. Thiac is a retired Army intelligence officer, with over 23 years experience, including serving in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the Middle East. He is also a retired police patrol sergeant, with over 22 years’ service, and over ten year’s experience in field training of newly assigned officers. He has been published at The American Thinker, PoliceOne.com, and on his personal blog, A Cop’s Watch.
Opinions expressed are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of current or former employers.
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