WASHINGTON — President Biden seemingly forgot how to say “Kamala” Harris Tuesday — years after his vice president taught the country the correct pronunciation.
“As Kamala said, we’re all closely monitoring the storms, the floods, the landslides all across California,” Biden said at a White House celebration for the NBA champion Golden State Warriors, saying his second-in-command’s name like “CAM-a-la” rather than the proper “COMMA-la.”
Biden, 80, is the oldest-ever president and his mental acuity is often debated as he prepares to launch a 2024 reelection campaign. His defenders say he’s simply prone to gaffes and a stutter.
Harris’ name was inspired by her mother’s South Indian heritage and she effectively educated much of the public on how to say “Kamala” before or during the 2020 election campaign.
A 2016 Harris Senate campaign video features children saying, “It’s not CAM-EL-UH. It’s not KUH-MAHL-UH. It’s not KARMEL-UH.”
“[M]y name is pronounced ‘comma-la,’ like the punctuation mark. It means ‘lotus flower,’ which is a symbol of significance in Indian culture,” Harris wrote in a 2019 memoir, according to CNN.
Biden’s forgetfulness was fleeting Tuesday and he correctly pronounced Harris’s first name at one point and asked her to walk him out of the room — as he continued to duck questions about the special counsel investigation into his apparent mishandling of classified documents.
Biden has at least six times accidentally referred to Harris, 58, as president — most recently on Jan. 5.
Harris would become the first female president if Biden is unable to complete his term.
