The new 2024 election optics
We are big supporters of President Joe Biden. There have been many posts here outlining his accomplishments and tremendous successes, including:
–strengthening America’s economy and creating a record number of jobs;
–leadership and respect around the world, as well as expanding NATO;
–protecting the rights of women and minorities;
–successfully placing hundreds of federal judges on the bench, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson;
–forgiving over one hundred billions of dollars in student loans (despite Republican efforts to stop it); and more.
Likewise, we have laid out the reasons why President Biden deserved Democratic support for his presidential re-election efforts, such as the fact that he is the incumbent president who decided to seek another term, and that he won the 2024 primaries (with over 14 million Democratic votes) very handily.
But reality has taken a different turn. Whether events of the past few weeks are fair or not, President Biden has announced that he will no longer seek the nomination for president in 2024. Instead, Biden has fully endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the job.
Normally, we would want to spend days grieving over and processing what happened. However, with the 2024 elections just 105 days away, and the Democratic National Convention (where the presidential and vice presidential candidates are formally nominated) only 27 days from now, there is no time for that. Instead, we grieved for about half an hour, and then pivoted to Vice President Harris.
From a logical and practical standpoint, supporting Harris right now makes sense. For those who wanted President Biden’s policies to continue for another term, the most likely person to continue them is his own Vice President. It is virtually certain that Harris will say so unequivocally. Furthermore, Harris is the only one with access to approximately $100 million in donations to the Biden/Harris campaign. Any other candidate would have to start from zero, which would make it extremely difficult to wage the kind of campaign and get out the vote effort necessary to defeat the Republicans.
Likewise, while the “news” media would salivate over a chaotic Democratic convention, history says that would lead to a Democratic defeat. Perhaps that’s why Harris has already received many endorsements (President Biden, former President Bill and Hillary Clinton, many members of Congress including Nancy Pelosi, the Congressional Black Caucus, numerous state governors, big city mayors, the American Federation of Teachers and the Service Employees International Union, etc.); the pledges of enough Democratic delegates to win the nomination; and a record haul of small donations (now totaling over $250 million) in just a couple of days. It appears that Harris has, or will have, the nomination essentially wrapped up this week.
But beyond these practical concerns, we see advantages to Harris’ candidacy for president. Of course, she passes the “competent and credible to be president” test with flying colors. Harris is highly intelligent, articulate and energetic. Besides being an excellent and loyal Vice President in the very successful Biden administration, Harris was previously a U.S. Senator from California, before that the Attorney General of California, and even prior to that a prosecutor for Alameda County and then the District Attorney for San Francisco. Keep those early positions in mind for the list of advantages here.
First and foremost, Harris, still in her 50s, is a Young Fresh Face compared to that Old Guy, Donald Trump. For all the folks who felt that President Biden was too old to run again, obviously he’s out, and the only old candidate left is Trump. In addition to Trump’s advanced age, moreover, many of his issues of physical and cognitive decline have been well-documented. These include difficulties walking down a ramp, problems drinking water, mistaking Barack Obama for President Biden, mistaking Nikki Haley for Nancy Pelosi, mistaking World War II for World War III, forgetting his doctor’s name, forgetting his son’s name, falling asleep at his criminal trial and at the recent Republican National Convention, etc. Indeed, Trump previously suggested that this year’s presidential candidates take a cognitive test. Let’s hold Trump to that suggestion.
Second, remember that Kamala Harris resume from two paragraphs earlier? We will now have an election between the Prosecutor and the Convicted Felon. That makes for some great optics. If Trump agrees to debate Harris (though we think he will chicken out), she could clean his clock.
Third, President Biden will be able to focus almost exclusively on his presidential duties. That includes many important matters, such as assisting Ukraine against Russia‘s imperialist invasion; working to achieve a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas; and improving the U.S. economy, which, with inflation down to three percent and interest rates about to decline, is the envy of the world. Meanwhile, Vice President Harris will continue to hit the campaign trail, holding rallies and public events around the country. And of course, we can still expect President Biden to take part in campaign events.
Fourth, with the “Biden’s Age” issue now off the table for the 2024 elections, Harris, Biden and all Democrats can train the spotlight where it belongs: on Donald Trump. There is much to mention, from Trump’s 34 criminal convictions, to being found liable for sexual abuse and defamation of E. Jean Carroll (indeed, the judge in the case said that Trump was found to have committed rape), to instigating the January 6, 2021 insurrection against our democracy based on the Big Lie. Or how about that Trump spent four years in the White House, racking up a disastrous record including deadly COVID inaction, the economic shutdown and 2020 Trump Recession, locking kids in cages, and more? Democrats also have plenty of horrendous Trump/Republican policy plans to run against, including Project 2025 and nationwide bans against abortion and even contraception.
While the new political reality may have been thrust upon us, we think the conditions for Kamala Harris and the Democrats to take advantage of it and defeat the Republicans in November are quite favorable.
Photo by FolsomNatural, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/NAF2Gy
