What a difference two days make. It's Thursday and with Nancy Pelosi now hinting that she isn't 100% behind President Biden, it's starting to feel like we've reached a tipping point in the "Should he stay or should he go?" sweepstakes.
Four days ago I scoffed when a friend wrote on Facebook:
Pardon the punditry, but I don't see any way that a national presidential campaign can possibly recover from a week-plus of calls from inside and outside the party for the candidate to step down. What is one more interview, one more town hall, even one more debate going to achieve at this point? The GOP could basically spend from now until November doing nothing but running ads quoting Democrats and liberal pundits saying Biden needs to go, over footage from the debate.Even if you think he was a solid and electable candidate before the debate, there is no way to take back anything that's been said and reported since. This is essentially a zombie campaign now, that's the political reality.
Now I give in. But let me tell you why I fear this was a complete miscalculation:
First, I still firmly believe that if Democrats had maintained a united front after the debate -- like Republicans have no matter what their candidate does -- President Biden could have ridden this out and had a good chance to win. (Am I the only one who remembers that the other guy didn't get the most votes in 2016 or 2020 -- and that he cost his party the White House, the House and the Senate?)
Secondly, you don't squander an incumbency. You just don't. Instead, let the infighting and accusations of "coronations" begin.
And last and most troubling, I don't see any clean way for the president to be replaced as the Democratic nominee -- and I'm not at all convinced doing so will increase the chance that the Democrat will win in November. (Do people not remember that Humphrey still lost handily to Nixon when Johnson exited?) Yes, I understand that the vast majority of people don't like either candidate. But if there had been a Democrat that more people like, we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with. So why do people think we can magically produce and coalesce around one now?
What Democrats forget -- but Republicans know and are salivating about -- is that the other guy is so despised by so many voters that all it took to defeat him was putting him up against a generic white man, because (as unfair as it may be) things don’t stick to them the way they do to others. (“Crooked Joe” didn’t work. "Burisma" didn’t work. "Hunter’s laptop" didn’t work.) Now the other guy is probably going to get another femme foil, which he and far too many white men live (and love) to demonize. (It's like for these guys a vote against Hillary Clinton was a vote against "that b**ch" who dumped them.) The only person I've ever heard people talk about more contemptuously than Hillary and Nancy Pelosi is Kamala Harris. (I'll let you try to figure out why that may be -- wink-wink.) I am aware that the Veep's numbers have marginally improved, but wait’ll she gets “birthered” and “emailed” for months on end. (And now that Democrats have labeled Biden damaged goods, either way is a win-win for Republicans.) Still, since it now seems the well has been poisoned, the sooner the process begins the better.
Democrats have long been their own worst enemies. And refusing to take yes for an answer is how they managed to lose Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan in 2016 just weeks after the "Access Hollywood" tape aired and Republicans were calling for their nominee to drop out. (Do Dems even remember that?) So in the interest of not giving these voters another excuse to not show up, go ahead and pick another candidate. Let's call their bluff and pray I am wrong about everything.
And to Joe Biden: Thank you for all you've done. You were the best president in my lifetime (to date).
UPDATE: Biden -- who was gaffe-prone when he was 4 and called Barack Obama "bright and clean" before getting picked by him to be his running mate -- just introduced Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at a NATO press conference as "President Putin." (After realizing his mistake he went back to the podium to say: "No, we're going to beat Putin.") Meanwhile the other candidate calls Biden "Obama" every other time he opens his mouth, but apparently when Joe does it it's the end of the world. (At this point I’m starting to think we don’t deserve democracy.)
God help us all.
Or was it?
Maybe the naysayers will start to calm down and things will get back on track. Or maybe there’s yet another twist ahead. I really have zero sense of where this is going. All I am certain of is that Biden won’t walk away unless he’s confident his party has the best possible chance to retain control of the White House in November, and so far it seems he still believes he’s the one.
18 comments:
Democrats suck at sticking together. I don't care if Joe is "old." I'm still voting for him.
@Jack: You're 100% right. And I'll also vote for him if he's still on the ticket.
They should have had someone run against Biden in the primaries who are they going to replace him with now?
Keep saying this, Kenneth. I, too, am sticking with Biden!
I cannot believe any of this is a shock - going on for four years - question is - who is making the decisions coming from the White House?
@John: I guess you're coming at this from a different perspective.
His duties don't require split-second decisions -- and I think Biden is perfectly capable of making informed choices -- not to mention that it's an administration that decides things, not just one person.
Has he slowed down? Obviously yes. Is that ideal? No. But I really don't think he's the invalid some are trying to make him out to be.
Good presser. If people want him gone from now on, it's purely due to his being "old" and thinking voters want "young." They don't.
I voted for him. My issue is that he is not up to being the President at this time nor for the next four years. He should step aside and let someone else take on Trump. My father had dementia for five years - I know the look, the gait, the mannerisms etc and we are seeing it all in front of us now.
What is that saying---"Dance with the one that brought you!"
These Democrats are like kindergartners at recess.
I am riding with Uncle Joe, shuffles, gaffs, and stutters.
Guess who else wants Joe Biden to stay in the race? Donald Trump.
Sorry but he needs to go.
He’s simply no longer up to the job. With everything that’s going on in the world, we need a leader who can project strength and work his back side off. He’s feeble and you can hear his labored breathing when he speaks, and he struggles to form words.
Add to that the fact the he’s lost a lot of the younger vote due to Palestine.
@John: Sadly I don't think Harris will do much to assuage these Kiddies for Palestine types, but yeah.
@John: My father had dementia, too and he appeared much more like the current tRump than Joe.
@Jack and @John: I was going to say the exact same thing, Jack. Joe is showing nothing more than signs of old age, which his doctors attest to.
for me personally, I'd vote for Joe Biden's head in a jar of blue liquid, before I'd vote for Kumquat. I just wish the rest of the country, outside of his cult, understood how unsuitable Donnie would be, as President. But you see the interviews with the undecided voters and Donnie's total unsuitability just doesn't even come up in conversation. It's all about inflation and the border. So, we will get the leadership we richly deserve.
Seems to be two Johns commenting on here - I am the first one that commented and this isn’t my comment (above)
Like I said before who are they going to replace Biden with?
@Jaradon: Kamala Harris would have to be the pick but it certainly would unite the party.
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