If Kamala Harris manages to become the 47th U.S. president it will be despite Joe Biden, not because of him.
Biden is a decent man and an honorable politician. His record of accomplishments as president is robust. “I’ve given my heart and soul to my nation” he said in a prime-time speech, but he may have given it too late.
The accolades being tossed at Biden following his decision to withdraw from the presidential campaign are misguided, as were several of his earlier actions that placed Democrats in the position they’re in now — racing against time and odds to prevent another four years of Donald Trump.
Former President Barack Obama said Biden’s decision to withdraw proved that he’s “a patriot of the highest order.” The renowned historian Jon Meacham called it, “one of the most remarkable acts of leadership in our history.” And so it went, in a flood of praise for Biden that seemed more designed to honor his decades of service — and to reflect a great national sigh of relief — than to objectively take stock of what could have been an avoidable crisis.
There is little honor in finally acknowledging an untenable situation months, perhaps years, after those around you saw it. There is nothing heroic about clinging to a presidential re-election campaign that never should have been embarked upon in the first place. And there’s hardly cause for celebration when a campaign of such high consequence is stubbornly taken to the brink before the course is corrected.
When he ran in 2020 Biden explained, “I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else.” He said younger politicians were “the future of this country.” Had he kept to what seemed like a pledge to serve a single term it would have, indeed, qualified as an act of patriotism.
Instead, Biden decided to run again, declaring that he had to “finish the job.” To be clear: No president has ever left office with the job completely done and few would be so audacious to suggest that only they were capable of handling whatever tasks remained.
Joe Biden’s missteps actually began before he selected Kamala Harris as his running mate. By declaring that he would only select a woman to run as vice president, he laid the foundation for unfair criticism that Harris faces now: that she is a “DEI” (diversity, equity and inclusion) selection. In other words, the label Republicans are using for Harris isn’t so much about her as it is about how Biden went about picking her in the first place. (Biden made the same mistake with his U.S. Supreme Court pick, Ketanji Brown Jackson, first declaring that the choice would only be a Black woman.)
It’s probably worth remembering that in 2020 neither Biden nor Harris were the Democrats’ best options. Harris had stumbled so badly in her early effort to get the presidential nomination that she dropped out when it became clear she wouldn’t even prevail in her home state of California. Biden looked shaky on the ground in Iowa, especially when seen alongside younger, energetic campaigners that included Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and even the senior citizen Bernie Sanders. Biden lost in Iowa and New Hampshire and was going nowhere until Rep. Jim Clyburn endorsed him in South Carolina — giving Biden that state’s primary and ultimately the party’s nomination.
It may well be that Biden was the best person to defeat Trump in 2020. The nation wasn’t focused on youth or vigor, it was seeking wisdom and stability. But after a few grueling years in the White House Biden’s age and cognitive challenges began to show. Though many Democrats claim to have been surprised by Biden’s June 28 debate debacle, evidence of his struggles had been on display for months in video compilations that ran almost daily across the internet. The President and those closest to him must certainly have been among the first to recognize this, not the last.
Biden and many in his party’s leadership point to the 14 million votes he received in this year’s primaries. That’s about as meaningless as the “voting” that keeps returning Vladimir Putin to power. Incumbent presidents aren’t meaningfully challenged within their own party unless they withdraw early enough for a legitimate primary process. That’s what Lyndon Johnson did in late March of 1968; Joe Biden waited until July 21.
Vice President Harris insisted she wanted to “earn” the nomination. But due to Biden’s delay, what she got was the very “coronation” that Democrats hoped to avoid.
If Harris wins in November, Biden’s place in history will be secure and the stubbornness he displayed in the campaign will be forgotten. If she loses, her political career will be over and, sadly, the blame will rest largely with her boss.
Copyright 2024 Peter Funt distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate
