Kamala Harris is fully aware that as she stands there today that the eyes of many around the world are on Afghanistan...

 

"We are laser-focused on the task at hand," she says, her arms flapping nervously, as if she would like to fly away. 

Last week on this blog, we were talking about comic actors doing characters. Remember? I thought a particular woman who was being made fun of might herself be a comedienne doing a character. 

Freeman Hunt said, "But you usually try to take it just over the edge, amplify it a little. Therein lies the humor." 

I responded, "Some of the best comic actors do not amplify it. Think of Charles Grodin and Phil Hartman." I was quite sure I'd heard a brilliant comic actor — who? — say that his trick was to copy the person exactly. Don't amplify. And watching Harris, just now — at 7:00 to 7:15 — I thought: That's it, that's what you copy. Copy that exactly. The words, the eye movements, the pauses, the arm jerks — everything. Resist all amplification. That would be hilarious. Painful too, but hilarious.

Maybe it has something to do with our socialization and inhibition. We're polite enough to refrain from laughing at real people trying to get through whatever they've got going for them, using whatever talent they have. But that restraint takes its toll, and when a comic actor takes the place of that real person, what a relief. It's finally okay to laugh.

But a comedian stepping up and giving us a chance to laugh at Kamala Harris won't bring much relief. She really is too dangerous. She's about to become President, and here she is on her Southeast Asian trip to show off her readiness to become President, and she does not project gravitas or even minimal sincerity. She seems afraid and insecure. The President is supposed to protect us, not require our protection. 

UPDATE: Here's the press conference from yesterday — video, transcript. Asked whether she was "satisfied" with what was being done in Afghanistan —  "not the decision itself, but the operational steps that were taken" — she repeated her one talking point — the administration is "focused" on "the task at hand" (evacuating people) — and swiveled to the fact that she was standing there in Singapore:

So as the president has said, listen, this is a difficult mission. There’s no question about that. But our focus has to be on the task at hand. As it relates to America’s relationship around the world, I am standing here in Singapore because our commitment to a long standing relationship, which is an enduring relationship with the Indo-Pacific region, with Southeast Asian countries. And in particular, with Singapore.