I love Joe Biden and I’m sad that he’s no longer able to carry the torch. But I have to say that I’ve never been happier with the Democratic Party. The leadership made the incredibly difficult decision to stand up to a very successful and admirable president and insist that despite winning the nomination of the party in a walk, that he could not be allowed to accept it. I wish they had been able to convince Biden without having to push so hard and so publicly, but they did not back down from their responsibility. There was no way we could responsibly argue that Biden would be fit to serve another four and a half years in office, and the American people simply were not going to believe it.
I do think in an ideal world, the alternative to Biden would be someone who is not a part of his (unjustly) unpopular incumbent administration, but we don’t live in an ideal world. The simplest solution was to go with Kamala Harris and, if there were ever going to be someone else, Biden put the kibosh on it when he wholeheartedly endorsed her. At that point, it was ensured that she would have the delegates needed and the right thing to do was to rally around her.
I know pushing Biden aside was not something Obama, Pelosi, Schumer and Jeffries wanted to do. It seems so unfair and unkind. But we all age, and to be candid about it Biden wasn’t necessarily supposed to run for a second term. He kind of suggested he wouldn’t. But that’s all water under the bridge now. Biden finally saw the light, or more precisely the devastating battleground poll numbers, and now he’ll go down as a kind of Cincinnatus who gave up power for the good of the country and went back to his plow.
Now his negatives transfer to Harris’s opponent. People want a new president, not one we’ve already tried. They want someone fresh and young, not an old retread. They want someone lucid and vibrant, not a rambling narcoleptic like Trump. Â It’s easy to feel the instant infusion of energy and optimism that arrived the moment Biden bowed out, and that’s a pretty strong indication that it was a popular decision. Harris’s astonishing fundraising numbers are another indication.
The Democratic Party really came through here. And the Republican Party, which has never acknowledged the problems with Trump and never stood up to him, is still the same shambolic mess that couldn’t elect a Speaker of the House. Their presentation of unity at the Republican National Convention was a mirage and it won’t stand up.
It’s possible the Democrats still lose this election but I am so grateful that they did something bold rather than just waddling into the threshing blades.
This wasn’t about big donors or some undemocratic process. This was about a political organization operating on the highest level under the most intense pressure.
