Finally correcting a long series of mistakes that never should have been made, Joe Biden has belatedly dropped out of the presidential race. In a move that inadvertently illustrated one of Biden's biggest problems (and the one that has now ended his campaign), his initial press release neglected to endorse his Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor and he had to quickly issue a follow-up that said some of the same things except made that endorsement.
The decision--by whomever made it--to have Biden run for a 2nd term was criminal and just further underscores why Biden never should have been president in the first place and never should have been the 2020 Democratic nominee. Instead of acting as what he said he would be--a righter of the ship of state and a "bridge" to a new generation of leaders--he's managed only to waste over a year of everyone's time, during which a vibrant Democratic primary to pick a contender could have been held, and leave his party in a very difficult position, bearing the weight of his failed administration with a potential 2nd Donald Trump regime looming and only a few months to introduce a new standard-bearer.
Biden's very belated exit does manage to significantly increase Democrats' chances in the Fall; Biden was looking down the barrel of a terrible loss. Somewhere out there, Trump is fuming (Stephen Miller, one of Trump's pet Nazis, has already had a public meltdown on Fox).
Biden is backing Harris. Many have been pitching her in the weeks since Biden's disastrous debate performance, and there is a certain logic to it. Harris is the shortest distance between two points. Everyone understands VPs are there to take over when presidents can't continue. Harris has name-recognition, an important consideration when time is short. Because she shares the ticket with him, the war-chest of dirty money Biden has amassed from prostituting his potential 2nd term to entrenched interests can be transferred to her, which wouldn't be the case with other contenders. Because of her unique position, she could decide how beholden she is to those interests. Unfortunately, her history strongly suggests she'll cast her lot with them.
Harris isn't, to be clear, a good choice. She is, first off, extremely unpopular.--remarkably so for a VP (though most of that is probably just due to her association with this disliked administration). She's a former prosecutor, with all the baggage that entails. Her first foray into presidential politics was a corporate press invention, but even with years of that press trying to make her the next big thing, she failed miserably, displaying terrible political instincts and coming across as inept, insincere, uninformed and flighty; she washed out of the race in a single-digit 6th place before a single vote had been cast. Harris is no visionary. She's completely out of her depth, even as VP. As the 2024 Dem nominee, she would solve the problem of Biden's cognitive decline--any alternative would--but she's still a face of the same failed administration everyone had already disliked for years before Biden's impairment became too big a problem to ignore. She's also been used by the White House to help cover up Biden's condition, gaslighting the public and insisting he was a competent leaders with all of his marbles in the sack (this will likely become a point of attack by Republicans). It isn't a guarantee the party with rally behind her as the nominee--and a fight over it would be more entertaining--but it is very likely.
Harris isn't smart, but if she has some smart advisers, for a change, she will adopt a few big, progressive policies on which to run, one of them will be "fix the Supreme Court," she will hit Trump hard but avoid only running on "orange man bad" (Biden's sole 2nd-term campaign plank until Bernie Sanders convinced him--only days ago--to offer a slate of progressive reforms), she will try to separate herself from Biden, present herself as at least partly a new thing, not a continuation--"I'm Biden but younger" would be a total loser--and she won't under any circumstances, get bogged down in defending this failed and disliked administration. Those last items would be a tough needle for any politician in Harris' position, even the most talented, to thread. She's not among those "most talented."
Whatever happens next, the 2024 race just got interesting. For the moment, at least.
As for Biden, he was past his expiration date for the presidency well before he ran in 2019. He got by on a hated incumbent, a "lucky" pandemic and a nothing-to-see-here deference by party and media elites so extreme that it isn't at all inappropriate to characterize it as an ongoing cover-up. An awful presidency later and a reelection campaign, given his numbers and his own poor health, was unthinkable, yet he forged ahead, exploiting the profound dysfunction of our institutions to try to force his candidacy on a country that had made clear it didn't want it, then only conceding to the obvious at the very last minute, having to be relentlessly pressured out of a race he was going to lose but was determined to continue and leaving us to clean up the mess. Before he left the race, his only real legacy was going to be a 2nd Trump presidency. In his absence, that may yet be that legacy. Whether or not Dems win this year, history will not look kindly on him.
--j.
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