In my very last 2021 Crooks and Liars post it's my pleasure to pay tribute to the inimitable brilliance and kindness of our nation's first female, first Black, first AAPI Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris.

I could list so many stellar highlights from her first (almost) year as vice president:

• the deep educational and historical background she brings to working her hardest to solve the root causes of immigration from South and Central America
• the grace and foreign policy savvy she exhibited on her trip to France, smoothing over relations with our longtime ally at a particularly bumpy time
• her historic tie-breaking vote in the Senate to bring COVID relief to the nation
• VP Harris delivered the commencement speech at the Naval Academy
• the many meetings she had with Black women repeatedly over the year to hear their priorities and ideas
• her spotlighting Black maternal healthcare — a topic about which she cares deeply, and and one on which she introduced legislation as a U.S. Senator.

All of these accomplishments took place under relentless attacks from all sides on her identity, her gender, her motives, and her historic place in the White House, not to mention countless fabricated media crises about her and her staff, her office, and her relationship with President Joe Biden.

But if you really want to know why VP Kamala Harris deserves this Good Guy Crookie award, witness the kindness that comes from her core, and her impulse to make those around her feel comfortable and valued, like this broadband worker in the New Hampshire plant she visited in April.

Madam Vice President, for being a hero to so many, you get our 2021 Crookie Good Guy Award. Congratulations, VP Harris!