DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Filling in for President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris flew to the Middle East to tackle a pair of challenges that have flummoxed White Houses for decades: climate change and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Each carries the risk of political blowback going into next year’s presidential elections.

She spent barely 24 hours on the ground in Dubai, less time than it took to get to the United Arab Emirates and then back to Washington.

At the U.N. climate conference, when it was announced that “her excellency Kamala Harris” was taking the stage Saturday for remarks, she was not even in the room.

Harris’ chair sat unoccupied as world leaders assembled for the panel spoke. When she did show up, she gave a short speech, then dashed off quickly, only to be summoned back for a group photo.

Harris was delayed because she had been on the telephone with the emir of Qatar regarding the Israel-Hamas war. And she was in a hurry after the climate event for more meetings with Arab leaders as Israeli bombardments resumed in Gaza after a temporary cease-fire.

The awkward double booking during Harris’ hastily arranged Dubai trip illustrates a set of tricky — and at times potentially contradictory — policy and political crosscurrents. The Biden administration with its diverse coalition of voters is trying to navigate these crosscurrents just as the 2024 presidential race is heating up.

When Harris spoke to reporters after her day of diplomacy, her prepared remarks skipped over the U.S. pledge to commit an additional $3 billion to a climate fund, a development she had cited in her conference speech. To the media, she focused on steps to resolve the war and prepare for what would come next.

“We all want this conflict to end as soon as possible, and to ensure Israel’s security and ensure security for the Palestinian people,” Harris said. “We must accelerate efforts to build an enduring peace and that begins with planning for what happens the day after the fighting ends.”

Climate and conflict are matters that require a balancing act at home as a possible Biden rematch with former Republican President Donald Trump unfolds.

The Democratic administration is staking much of the U.S. economy’s future on renewable energy, yet voters are frustrated by gasoline prices that are higher than when Biden took office. Similarly, the war that began on Oct. 7 has exposed a divided between Democrats over Washington’s support for Israel and the suffering of Palestinian civilians.

As the 81-year-old Biden seeks a second term, Harris, 59, has taken on a larger role promoting his campaign to younger voters.

During a monthslong college tour to campuses across the country, the vice president spoke at every stop about the existential threat of climate change, only to have audience members frequently express concern that the administration and the rest of the world are not doing enough.

In Dubai, Harris said it was “our duty and our obligation” to do more to move the world away from fossil fuels and limit the increase in average global temperatures. She said the U.S. would contribute $3 billion to a global fund meant to help developing countries better confront climate change and was joining 90-plus nations in promising to double energy efficiency and triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.

JL Andrepont, a senior policy analyst at the environmental group 350.org, said the funding pledge was a “cautious but hopeful sign of the power of public pressure.”

But Harris stopped short of calling for a phaseout of fossil fuels, something many environmental groups want in order to stop the emissions causing climate change.

“We will continue to celebrate the global wins that support justly sourced and implemented renewable energy for all and we won’t stop advocating for a fast, full phaseout of all fossil fuels, including oil and gas,” Andrepont said.

There is a similar level of tension among Democratic supporters over the Israel-Hamas war.

Polling by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has shown that 50% of Democrats approve and 46% disapprove — a near split — of how Biden has dealt with the war.

Harris reaffirmed the administration’s position that Israel must be able to defend itself. Yet her words after hearing from Arab leaders conveyed some frustration with the scale of Israel’s response.

She described the “scale of civilian suffering” as “devastating” and said Israel must do more to protect the lives of Palestinians not involved in the fighting. Biden has previously declared the U.S. relationship with Israel was ironclad and his administration is seeking more than $14 billion to support Israel’s war efforts.

Harris also stressed the importance of a rebuilding process for homes and hospitals in Gaza region.

Amber Sherman, chair of the Black Caucus of the Young Democrats of America, said Harris’ comments were “encouraging.” Sherman had previously put out a statement on X, formerly Twitter, that said the Palestinians were revolting against occupation by the Israeli government, just as Black Americans had fought against slavery and white supremacy.

“It’s important that people call out what’s happening in Palestine,” Sherman said. “We do want Gaza to be rebuilt and it’s important that she mentioned that.”

Yet Harris’ statements were not entirely reassuring to some critics of the administration’s support of Israel.

“President Biden and his administration should show their statement in action,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “We want the siege to be lifted.”

In all, the vice president spent barely 24 hours on the ground in Dubai, less time than the roughly 15 hours each way it took to get there and back from Washington.

As she flew from Dubai, Harris spoke by phone with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and separately with Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority, according to the White House.

Harris reiterated U.S. concerns with Herzog that actions were escalating tensions. With Abbas, Harris again stated U.S. support for the Palestinian peoples’ right to security, dignity and self-determination, according to the readout.

The vice president’s national security adviser, Phil Gordon, stayed behind in Dubai, and planned to travel to Israel and the West Bank this week to continue to discuss the U.S. commitment to a two-state solution in postwar Gaza.

While Harris was on her way back Sunday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby applauded Israel for having published online a map of where Gaza residents could go to avoid the fighting. He held that out as a sign that Israel was responsive to the kinds of concerns raised by Harris and others.

“There’s not a whole lot of modern militaries that would do that,” Kirby said on ABC’s “This Week,” “to telegraph their punches in that way. So they are making an effort.”

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Harris dashed to Dubai to tackle climate change and war. Each carries high political risks at home appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new book about Joe Biden portrays the president as someone whose middle-class upbringing helped foster a resentment of intellectual elitism that shaped his political career and sometimes caused strain with his onetime boss, Harvard-educated Barack Obama.

Biden, who spent eight years as Obama’s vice president, told a friend that Obama couldn’t even curse properly, according to “The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future.”

Released Tuesday and written by Franklin Foer, a staff writer for The Atlantic, the book says Biden said Obama was unable to deliver a “f—- you” with “the right elongation of vowels and the necessary hardness of consonants; it was how they must curse in the ivory tower.”

Now, as the president runs for reelection, the early frontrunner among Republicans is former President Donald Trump, whose supporters can sometimes resent the perceived elitism of Washington’s political class — suggesting some overlap with Biden.

The anecdote also may resonate with Democrats. Ardent supporters of both Biden and Obama fondly recall the then-vice president telling Obama in a private aside that was captured on a hot mic, “This is a big f—-ing deal,” during the signing ceremony for Obama’s signature health care law in 2010.

Foer’s book offers a deep examination of Biden’s first two years in office, which the author describes as encompassing a lot of “flailing” before the president began to cement his legacy through signature policy achievements and “creative diplomacy” that helped rally the world behind Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion.

The 80-year-old Biden continues to face questions about his age, and Foer calls it “striking” that Biden attends few meetings or public events before 10 a.m. In private, Biden would “occasionally admit to friends he felt tired,” the book says.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked last week by a reporter citing an early excerpt from Foer’s book if personal fatigue might help explain why Biden’s morning schedule was often light. She responded, “That’s a ridiculous assumption to make.”

Jean-Pierre referred back to that exchange during her briefing with reporters at the White House on Tuesday, and provided updated comment, saying that administration officials had now “seen the context of the excerpt.” She said the book was actually praising Biden for helping to push major legislation through Congress and unify global support around Ukraine.

It “seemed to be making the opposite overall point about how the value of his experience and wisdom resulted in rallying the free world against authoritarianism,” she said.

Jean-Pierre also said “there’s gonna be a range, always, a range of books that are about every administration” that would feature “a variety of claims.”

“That’s not unusual. That happens all the time,” she said. “And we’re not going to litigate here.”

Foer’s book also describes struggles by Vice President Kamala Harris to carve out a role for herself as Biden’s No. 2 that have been well-documented previously. But Foer suggests Harris may have hurt her own cause in that area, initially asking to be in charge of relations with Scandinavia because it was “away from the spotlight.”

The book reports that the vice president was initially excited about helping the administration tackle the root causes of immigration that have seen so many Central American migrants seeking asylum arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border — but that she eventually began to accept conventional wisdom that it was a thankless assignment.

Foer’s book says Biden tried to treat Harris more respectfully than he felt Obama often had treated him as vice president, calling her “the vice president” instead of “my vice president.” But, during his early days in office, as Biden was convening his team to combat the coronavirus pandemic, Biden joked that the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, should sit in the vice president’s seat.

“The Last Politician” describes the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. It says that when Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, relayed to the president that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country, leaving Kabul to fall to the Taliban, Biden declared in frustration, “Give me a break!”

It also reports that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally intervened to help many women whose work in Afghanistan made them potential targets for the Taliban. She directed a group of them to wear white scarfs so they could be identified by U.S. Marines guarding the Kabul airport, and unilaterally contacted world leaders to find places for their eventual evacuation flights to land.

The book says Clinton’s call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy drew a personal rebuke from Sullivan, former close advisor to Clinton, who told her “What are you doing calling the Ukrainian government?”

“I wouldn’t have to call if you guys would,” Clinton responded, according to Foer’s book.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post New book details Biden-Obama frictions and says Harris sought roles ‘away from the spotlight’ appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.