Moving forward
In four parts: Harris; Biden; How we got here; What we do now
Part 2: Joe Biden
OK, so Harris had plenty of time to make her case in 2024, and reintroduce herself, even rebrand herself, and plenty of money and support. Just not much to say.
And that certainly wasn’t Joe Biden’s fault.
Let’s also stipulate that, in hindsight, 80 is, for most mortals, too old to be president and 85-ish certainly is.
And the smart play would have been for Biden to have taken himself out of it a year or two into his presidency – perhaps after the midterms, which he, against the odds, won.
Then a true contest could have occurred and the strongest candidate could have emerged.
Maybe.
At least Harris would have been tested and would have had to face Newsom, Bashir, Pritzker, Shapiro, and perhaps others.
But who is to say that the strongest primary candidate would have been the best general election candidate? Would middle America have liked Newsom more than Harris?
The fact of the matter is that only one person in either party has defeated Trump, and that is Joe Biden. And that is why Biden had every reason to think that he had a duty and a right to run for a second term.
He had another reason: He’d done a good job as president, He was the best president since Eisenhower (also old and not terribly articulate) and the best Democratic president since Truman (also driven from office in quest of a new face who lost).
Biden was an FDR Democrat who wanted to rebuild the nation and tax the rich. And he could connect with Scranton.
He had the core values and the program Harris lacked.
He also won the swing states Harris lost.
He just got old.
And this reminds me of something Sen. Eugene McCarthy told me about Pat Moynihan, around 1984.
McCarthy was promoting Moyhihan for president. His logic was simple: Moynihan had the best understanding of politics and government in his party and he’d proven he could get working class votes in New York in election after election. He was also never bullied by the left.
“People say he’s a drunk,” I said.
“Only after six or seven p.m.,” McCarthy answered. “And less of Pat is still better than a man who isn’t there.”
I think this was true of Biden. He was diminished, but still better than anyone else available in the party and, on his worst day, preferable to Trump by multiples incalculable.
Biden may not have known George Clooney or the day of the month. But he knew government, he understood the presidency, and he cared about the country.
Winston Churchill wasn’t big on dates in the last days of his last term, either. Diminished, he was still worth two to four of his possible replacements.
Joe Biden was utterly wrong about Palestine. That was his true weak spot. But perhaps educable, unlike Trump. And he had a competent team. No real president governs alone.
No Dem could beat Biden in 2020 (including Harris) and no major figure stepped up to oppose him in 2024 based on age (including Harris).
Even now he could do a better job than Trump, whose senility is as aggressive as his cruelty. Have you seen a picture of either man lately?
History will be kind to Joe Biden. He served. He could articulate a common good. He was a real president.
And history will record that he did do the unselfish thing: He did walk away when the polls and the party indicated he could not win. In order to prevent Trump 2.0. That was an act of anti-vanity that neither Bill Clinton nor Barack Obama would have ever committed. Even Jimmy Carter did not walk away in the face of near certain defeat.
And had Harris won, Biden would be the hero today, not the scapegoat.