Another day, another new group of Democrats – politicians, pundits, supporters – acknowledging that Joe Biden must go.
He’s toast. The only question is when…and every day he fights the inevitable is one less day that whoever replaces him has to try and resurrect Democrat hopes for 2024.
But who is that who going to be?
Kamala Harris is the obvious, logical choice. But so many people are, in effect, saying “ech” to her candidacy that I don’t know whether they can actually go through with it….but I also don’t know how they can replace her without generating a racial firestorm of huge proportions.
There are a number of good analyses of this gargantuan problem. But maybe the best I’ve seen is Douglas MacKinnon’s commentary at thehill.com.
Here are a few key excerpts:
It has been reported that aides and allies of Vice President Kamala Harris are upset that her name is not coming up in conversations about which Democrat might best replace President Joe Biden at the convention in late August, should it come to that. The part that adds insult to injury for the vice president and her close supporters is that these conversations are originating with fellow Democrats or liberal pundits.
What a difference one debate — that could not be stage managed by Biden’s White House handlers or liberal media outlets — makes. As if the editorial writers at the New York Times had just touched an electrified third rail with wet hands, they were instantly shocked into contorting their Biden-protecting selves into a call for Biden to drop out of the race.
Because of Biden’s epic failure at the debate, many liberal news sites and pundits were more than happy to pull back the curtain to reveal that the Democrat’s “Wizard of Oz” was being managed by shadowy aides and needed to be replaced as fast as humanly possible. But — by whom?
Again, while multiple names are being bandied about, many seem to agree as to who should not replace Biden: Kamala Harris. First and foremost, because many believe she is simply and truly a lousy candidate. Back in 2020, her campaign for the Democratic nomination imploded so quickly that she didn’t even make it to the Iowa caucus.
Beyond that, it has been Democrats who have talked of Harris brow-beating staff members into quitting; of Harris dropping the ball of managing the Southern border; of Harris not being up to the demands of the vice presidency, let alone the presidency. Anyone who cares to take a minute to do an internet search will find those stories and more.
Every single Republican and conservative I know hopes against hope that Biden and Harris will be the ticket come November. Just as every single Democrat I know hopes it will be anyone but Biden and Harris.
None of this is complicated but all of it is political — and personal. All a dilemma of the Democrats’ making. They now have but a few weeks to convince Harris that, for the good of the party as well as herself, she must step aside for a more popular standard-bearer at the convention.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall for those conversations.
Does the Democrat Party have a problem? One that not only affects their prospects to hold the White House in 2024 but to hold at least one house of congress as well?
That’s like asking whether Gladys Knight has Pips. Or whether Oscar The Grouch was voted Mr. Congeniality on Sesame Street.
Yes there is a problem. Yes, it is a huge problem. And, no, with less than four months to go before election day, there is no clear way to resolve it.
Other than the dim prospect that Michelle Obama can be convinced to run as the shadow candidate for Barack Revisited (which might or might not be a good solution) I don’t see any way this becomes anything but a world class excrement-show.
Let’s wait and see what happens. I doubt it will take very long….and I doubt it will be very good for Democrats.
