What a mess the Democrats have made of the 2024 presidential race.

As it stands, they’re stuck with running a historically unpopular and cognitively addled 82-year-old for reelection, or running his even-more-unpopular vice president instead. Or somehow clearing the deck of both of them in order to run someone else.

Somebody pass the pork rinds. This is gonna be a hoot.

The headline of an article in Monday’s Washington Post says it all: “Some Democrats are worried about Harris’s political prospects.” The subhead is more direct: “At a pivotal point in Biden’s term, many party activists are not sure the vice president has shown she is up to winning the top job.” That’s the feeling of “more than a dozen Democratic leaders in key states” who were interviewed for the article. “Harris’s tenure has been underwhelming,” the Post explains, “marked by struggles as a communicator and at times near-invisibility, leaving many rank-and-file Democrats unpersuaded that she has the force, charisma and skill to mount a winning presidential campaign.”

If anyone had any lingering doubts about Kamala Harris’s unfitness for office, she removed them long ago, on Memorial Day of 2021, with a four-word abomination of a message. “Enjoy the long weekend,” she tweeted above a profile picture of Hers Truly. Never mind the ultimate sacrifice of every American warrior whom we honor on that solemn day. Just enjoy the long weekend.

It’s no wonder, then, that the inept and unlikable Harris has been reduced to the roles of cackler-in-chief, funeral czar (she’s headed to the funeral of Tyre Nichols today), border buffoon, tiebreaker of Senate votes, promoter of yellow school buses, and defiler of the Declaration of Independence.

In a recent article, The Hill’s Amie Parnes tried to tell us that Harris is witty, charming, and eminently likable, but the American people are too racist and sexist to see it. But as Dave Seminara wonders in The Spectator, “If she’s so terrific, why did the left-wing Politico publish a damning report about the ‘unhealthy’ work environment in her office? And why have at least 25 of her key staffers quit?”

These are great questions.

Harris, we must remember, is the disastrous byproduct of Joe Biden’s insistence on selecting not just a woman but a black woman to be his running mate. (Thanks a lot, Amy Klobuchar!) Without a doubt, there are plenty of anonymous black women around the country who could’ve filled this role far better than Harris has. Unfortunately, they weren’t among the small group of mediocre leftist politicians that Biden had before him.

Stacey Abrams? Keisha Lance Bottoms? Muriel Bowser? Yikes. At least Florida Congresswoman Val Demings had a law enforcement background.

But of that group, Harris should’ve been the obvious pick. She was, after all, a senator and former attorney general from the largest state in the union. Unfortunately, though, she was much more than that. She was also a dimwitted African-American Indian Jamaican who isn’t even popular among American blacks, much less anyone else. As proof, she was polling in the single digits in her home state when she dropped out of the presidential race.

It was telling that Biden’s decision kept dragging on. He clearly didn’t want to pick Harris. But he did anyway, practically by default and primarily by virtue of the “heartbeat away” inexperience of the other candidates.

At the time Washington Post columnist David Byler tried pathetically and dishonestly to paint her as a moderate-centrist, calling Harris “a small-c conservative pick,” and yet somehow failing to acknowledge her ranking as the most liberal of all 100 U.S. senators, according to a 2019 GovTrack analysis.

Funny, not funny, but in 2007, the year before he ran for president, Barack Obama was also listed as the most liberal member of the entire Senate.

Sure enough, we get the government we deserve.

Speaking of Obama, has anyone noticed that his grievance-mongering wife is out with yet another book? In case you’re wondering, it’s “a joy to read,” according to The Los Angeles Times. And it’s “reaffirming” and “special,” according to The Washington Post. And it “resonates in ways that other self-help books do not,” according to The New York Times.

As for Michelle Obama, does anyone here doubt that the Democrats would find a way to run her for president if they thought she gave them their best chance of winning? After all, they kneecapped Bernie Sanders in 2020 only because a dementing Joe Biden polled better against Donald Trump than Bernie did. And here we are.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is clearly positioning himself for a White House run in 2024, but first, he’ll have to shove both Joe and Kamala aside. And even then, if folks come to realize that he’ll do for America what he’s done for California — the tent cities, the poop patrols, the rolling blackouts, the gun-grabbing, the carjackings, the free shoplifting, the puberty blockers — they might have second thoughts. And in that case, Michelle might well be next man up.

Back in November, the former first lady was in the midst of a softball interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts when she was asked whether she hoped Biden will run again in 2024. She clearly wasn’t ready for the question, yet her inarticulate answer was both telling and self-serving: “Y'know, I, I, I, … I, we’ll have to see,” she replied. Talk about a ringing endorsement.

When asked by @RobinRoberts if President Biden should run in the 2024 election, former first lady Michelle Obama said she doesn’t “speak on that” because she knows “what it feels like to be on the other side of it.” #MichelleObama https://t.co/BKf9XdBBUv pic.twitter.com/O1ELPW4LTw

— 20/20 (@ABC2020) November 14, 2022

It’s said that much can be learned about a president’s selection of a vice president. After all, it’s his first and most crucial personnel pick. This is the kind of hiring decision you can count on me to make, he’s essentially saying.

With Joe Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris, we’ve indeed learned a lot — both about him and about her, and none of it reassuring. Especially if you’re a Democrat.