Biden Steps Down, Harris Steps Up
After weeks of handwringing and pleading and even haranguing and defections by elected leaders and donors in his party to please step down from the presidential campaign before not only losing to Trump but possibly dragging down the downstate races to defeat, President Biden acceded to their request. “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down,” he wrote on X, “and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of the term.”
Those who cry foul at the way Biden has been treated by his own party since his horrible debate performance a month ago should, I think, consider that not only is it the case that 75% of voters thought that a different candidate than Biden could fare better against Trump, but that even before the fateful debate night on June 27th, there was the widely shared belief that he was too old and declining to handle the job for another four years.
Yesterday, while Jewel and I were on our way back home from a bi-annual family reunion held this year in Atlanta, I read on X that Biden coming out with a written statement rather than addressing the nation directly was evidence of some sort of coup. What’s the hell is up with these conspiracy-mongers? HELLO: Biden is recovering from another bout of Covid, folks. The man can’t take a couple of days to get better before appearing on camera? Damn.
Many, if not most, Americans would have preferred different candidates at the helm of both political parties. The fact that Joe Biden, after beating Trump fair and square in 2020, remained the choice of Democrat primary voters as an incumbent president, even with the concerns about his age, is understandable, though his administration’s downplaying of his senescence, aided and abetted by the liberal media, turned out to be damning. After the debate, everything changed.
Since Trump was coronated, or, rather, officially nominated at the Republican National Convention last week, a few days after he literally dodged being killed by a bullet shot by an obviously deeply troubled twenty-year old young man, only the Democrats could act to change the election dynamic. Biden choosing his Vice-President, Kamala Harris, to take over the campaign was the least disruptive way of doing so, as she can take credit for the actual achievements of Biden’s presidency (bipartisan infrastructure legislation, lowering the costs of drugs for seniors, reducing child poverty, reinvigorating U.S. manufacturing) while also taking due criticism for where their administration missed the mark (the increase of illegal border crossings from Mexico, pulling out from Afghanistan haphazardly, the increase in inflation hitting the pockets of everyday Americans)—and for her lackluster performance as VP.
For a quick study on the merits and demerits of Harris as a politician since 2016 and especially after running against Biden and other Democrat presidential aspirants in the last presidential cycle, I recommend Ezra Klein’s podcast of July 2, 2024, “Is Kamala Harris Underrated?” Klein was joined by political journalist Elaina Plott Calabro, a staff writer at The Atlantic who traveled with Harris extensively for a major profile last year. They pursued the following questions: “What accounted for the fast fall from grace after she took the vice presidency? What happened to the smart-on-crime prosecutor we once saw? What has the White House done — or not done — to build her profile? And are critics of Harris fair, or is she underrated now?”
Though she has a steep hill to climb, I think Harris will be more competitive than Biden would have been. This was likely true for the other candidates whose names have been bandied about with talk of an open Democrat party convention. But whether she can defeat Trump is anyone’s guess. What is clear to me is those who pilloried Biden’s choice of Harris as being based on DEI reasoning will likely double down on such charges, even if they find themselves dipping their feet into a pool where racists and old-school misogynists love to swim. Nonetheless, I hope that Harris will display a district attorney’s fervor when prosecuting her case against the 45th president. If Trump agrees to debate her, she’ll not only critique the downfall of Roe vs. Wade better than Biden, but Trump is unlikely to get away with as many bald-faced lies as in the first debate. And it’ll be interesting to see a convicted felon versus an experienced prosecutor.
As former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele opined on X last night, Trump may be displaying some wariness in debating Harris, suggesting that the agreed-upon network for the previously scheduled presidential debate in September change from ABC to the Fox network. I hope she’ll adopt an “I’ll debate him anytime, anywhere” attitude, like Trump’s own approach versus Biden last month. And considering the horrible performance of the U.S. Secret Service last weekend, where former President Trump came an inch away from being killed, the current head, Kimberly A. Cheadle, should take a page out of President Biden’s book and stand down. If she doesn’t do the right thing by resigning, then Biden-Harris should take a page out of Trump’s book and say: “You’re fired.”