Allow me to preface my remarks by stipulating that I’m a progressive whose first choice for president was Kamala Harris, unfortunately when it was my turn to vote in the Virginia primary she had already dropped out of the race.

Vice President Kamala Harris is one heartbeat away from becoming commander-in-chief, and you don’t have to be an expert at reading actuarial tables to recognize that the chances she’ll succeed the 78-year-old Joe Biden as president before 2024 are pretty good.

With that in mind, Harris needs to step up her game, immediately. Biden hasn’t done Harris any favors by appointing her as the administration’s go-to-person for stemming the flow of migration from Central America.

Harris has totally botched her role as the immigration czar. In an interview with Lester Holt, the NBC anchor asked her why she hadn’t yet visited the southern border.

“At some point, you know, we are going to the border,” Harris responded. “We’ve been to the border. So, this whole, this whole, this whole thing about the border. We’ve been to the border. We’ve been to the border.”

Holt, to his credit, fact-checked her by stating: “You haven’t been to the border.”

“I, and I haven’t been to Europe,” Harris replied to Holt, with a nervous cackle.

What can we gleam from this ill-fated interview?

Harris needs to recognize the obvious: The situation on the border is a genuine crisis, and she needs to visit the damn border.

Harris needs to be better prepared for interviews, even with reporters who are predisposed to be friendly to the Biden administration.

Harris needs to lose the cackle, post-haste. It’s useful to break out in a cackle if you’re impersonating Hillary Clinton or if you’re auditioning to play the Wicked Witch of the East, otherwise cackling is a career killer.

The only role Harris is auditioning for is commander-in-chief, and a nervous cackle is ill-suited for that critical role.