Earlier this month, Vice President Kamala Harris was speaking at a National Space Council meeting… and she gave another one of her characteristic non-speeches.

Harris hammered points about “expanding our STEM workforce,” “addressing the climate crisis,” and “promoting international rules and norms to govern space activities.”

But before long, Harris devolved into repetition and vagueness.

“Today, the business of our work is for the council to report on the work that has occurred since our last meeting across these areas. We will, today, also discuss the work yet ahead — the work we must still do to continue to move forward,” she said.

Harris later clarified “in particular the work we must do to build a skilled, technical space workforce, to advance human space exploration, and to establish rules for novel commercial space activities.”

She said the word “work” five times in one sentence.

Harris made the remarks on Sept. 9, but she went viral for it on Sept. 26 after an unflattering comparison to the fictional vice president from the T.V. series Veep.

Several observers mentioned a scene from Veep where a teleprompter breaks during a speech by the fictional vice president.

Take a look at Harris’ video… followed by a clip from 2015.

You can’t tell me this isn’t straight from an episode of VEEP pic.twitter.com/c4QQWStqUJ

— Bob (@tweetsbybob_) September 26, 2022

 

Life imitates art.

In the rest of the speech, Harris addressed talking points about international competition, the nation’s space program and the legacy of late President John F. Kennedy.

“For generations, with our allies and partners around the globe, America has led our world in the exploration and use of space,” Harris said.

“And I do believe that our leadership has been guided by a set of fundamental principles — cooperation, security, ambition, and public trust — which is the recognition, of course, that space can and must be protected for the benefit of all people. Today, as was the case 60 years ago, our nation’s leadership in space is critical to our economic prosperity, to our scientific and technological progress, and, in a time of increasing great power rivalry, to our national security.

Harris became vice president during a time of increased interest in space.

On Tuesday, NASA successfully launched a spaceship into a harmless asteroid, as a planetary defense rehearsal for more dangerous asteroids in the future.

 

Read more: How NASA planetary defense successfully hit asteroid

 

The Horn editorial team