WASHINGTON: US Vice President Kamala Harris said she was ready to serve as leader, in a Wall Street Journal interview published on Monday, as voter concerns mount about President Joe Biden’s age in an election year.

The 59-year-old Harris has faced growing scrutiny about her own abilities as the first in line to the presidency should Democrat Biden, 81, be incapacitated or stand down.

“I am ready to serve. There’s no question about that,” Harris told the newspaper when asked whether voters’ concerns about Biden’s age meant she must convince them of her credentials.

Everyone who sees her on the job “walks away fully aware of my capacity to lead”, said Harris, the first Black, South Asian and female vice president in US history.

The interview was carried out two days before a stinging special counsel report last week portrayed Biden as elderly and forgetful.

Special counsel Robert Hur’s probe into Biden’s handling of classified documents said the president should not face charges, but damningly said he would come across to a jury as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2024