Patrick Gaspard, president of The Center for American Progress, and formerly, the U.S. ambassador to South Africa and director of political affairs for President Obama, joins John Heilemann on the Hell & High Water podcast. In this segment, they discuss the negative press Vice President Kamala Harris received after her NBC interview with Craig Melvin. Gaspard weighs in on the extra scrutiny the vice president has been under, and whether or not the criticisms being leveled at her are fair. He makes the case that Vice President Harris hasn’t been given the breathing room that she needs to excel, particularly given the challenging portfolio she’s been assigned.
Click here to see Heilemann and Gaspard discuss President Biden’s push for voting rights legislation and filibuster reform in the Senate, and the political realities standing in the way of both; the prospects for Democrats heading into the 2022 midterm elections, and why Gaspard remains optimistic despite the enormous headwinds facing Biden and his party; and how the legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Frederick Douglass have shaped Gaspard’s philosophy and approach to politics.
