'If you’re not vaccinated, you’re part of the problem'

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July 7, 2021

Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu

'If you're not vaccinated, you're part of the problem'

One of the worst traps for a politician is a damaging narrative through which all their subsequent actions are viewed. This is now the unappealing prospect facing US Vice President Kamala Harris.

Washington's conventional wisdom-mongers in the media and pundit class have concluded that Harris has had a rocky first few months in the White House. A flurry of insider news accounts claiming internal discord, low morale and strategic naivete in her inner circle are feeding on one another. It took just one botched answer from Harris in Central America over why she hadn't visited the US border to revive doubts about her political dexterity. Her team ought to have seen the storm coming and prepped a better answer.

Much of the scrutiny isn't fair. Al Gore, Dick Cheney, Joe Biden and Mike Pence didn't get such concentrated criticism in their early months as VP. It's hard not to wonder if the fact that Harris is the first woman in the job and the first veep of color has something to do with the rough ride she's getting. She has also been assigned two of the most thankless challenges facing Biden's administration: migrant flows from Central America and combating new Republican restrictive voting laws.

But there's also another reason she's under an extreme spotlight. Harris is a heartbeat away from a presidency held by a 78-year-old commander in chief. If Biden doesn't run in 2024, she's the favorite to carry Democratic hopes, possibly in a scorched-earth battle against ruthless campaigner Donald Trump. Republicans know this, so they relish the chance to hammer Harris every day on the issue that most excites their base: undocumented migration.

Before taking the job, Harris stirred criticism of her political skills with a 2020 Democratic primary bid that promised great things but fizzled on internal discord and shakiness on key issues. She can't afford many more stumbles now. But she does have some time to tighten her operation and to produce crisper public appearances. Biden himself entered the White House amid whispers from Barack Obama aides that he was a gaffe-prone liability. Years of focus and loyalty turned that perception around -- and equipped him for the presidency.

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'If you're not vaccinated, you're part of the problem'

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice wants more young people in his state vaccinated – and no excuses. "The young people out there are the ones that are dragging their feet. The sun is shining, they're out of school, all is good in the world and everything, yet they don't really realize that they could be the transmitters that could be passing this on to someone that's going to die," he said during a Tuesday briefing.

"If you're not vaccinated, you're part of the problem rather than part of the solution, that's all there is to it," Justice added.

Postcard from Bagram

Located an hour north of Kabul, Bagram Air Base was for nearly 20 years the hub of America's war in Afghanistan. Now it is eerily quiet. The last US combat troops have left and the Afghan government is trying to work out how to use the sprawling complex -- and how to secure it.

The huge mustard-colored aircraft hangars remain locked. Among the equipment left behind are some 700 vehicles: Humvees, pickups and 4 x 4s, some still littered with half-eaten American snacks like Oreos and bottles of partially consumed soda.

Beyond the hardware, there are other signs that this was not so long ago a little piece of America in the Hindu Kush mountains. Bagram had its own Burger King and Popeyes franchises, a radio station and mini shopping mall. Once upon a time, there was even a Harley-Davidson store here.

Not long ago, the airfield saw dozens of arrivals and departures every day. It was the beating heart of a vast military airlift operation that supplied US and NATO troops in Afghanistan. From Bagram, surveillance aircraft would patrol the skies around the clock watching for the Taliban's movements.

The twin runways, some 2 miles long, stretch toward the horizon. But the only noise is that of the wind sweeping across the plains.

Some 3,000 Afghan security forces are now quietly settling in. On Monday, a delegation from Afghanistan's National Security Council were visiting the base, working out how it might be used in the battle against the resurgent Taliban. But whether they'll have the time and resources to exploit Bagram is the big unanswered question — the Afghans now possess a historic American air base, but they don't have enough planes to make full use of it.

-- CNN's Anna Coren, Sandi Sidhu and Tim Lister

Read more here.

A time lapse shows construction of the world's tallest sandcastle, which was unveiled in Blokhus, Denmark, on Friday. (It's 21.16 meters high, or around 69 feet) (Credit: Visit Denmark)

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On Wednesday, the OECD releases its 2021 economic survey of Iceland. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky visits Vilnius, Lithuania, for the Ukraine Investment Conference. The Spain-US digital forum kicks off.