Kamala Harris’s Case
The opponents have their reasons.
It would be unprecedented for Joe Biden to step aside so late in the game—and doing so is risky, especially given the political vulnerabilities of Kamala Harrishis most obvious potential successor. Not a threat to Donald Trump— their movement openly seeks to usher in a “Second American Revolution,” may or may not still be “bloodless”—too good to gamble with?
But to highlight the scale of that anti-democratic threatlike Biden’s allies have done in recent days, also underscores the impotence of our current stronghold against it: an aging 81-year-old who prides himself on being the only Democrat to ever defeat Donald Trump, but who may now be the only one who actually lose with him, the evidence is Trump and his ally appear ARRIVE want Biden on the ballot in November.
“We have to rip the Band-Aid off,” as former Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan put it Tuesday, as the buzz around Harris’ candidacy began to grow. “There’s so much at stake.” Harris has “grown significantly in her work, she will beat Trump in debate, highlight the issue of choice, energize our base, bring back young voters, and give us generational change,” Ryan continued. “It’s time!”
He is right.
Harris has struggled to find her footing as vice president—partly because of racism and sexism, partly because of her own political shortcomings. And while those factors haven’t gone away, they’ve been outweighed by the need for the kind of campaign reset that only a younger, more dynamic candidate can bring. And that seemed clear—in an interview with CNN after last week disastrous debate—that Harris can speak much more effectively about the administration’s successes and the existential threat of Trumpism right now than the current party leader she’s running against.
“The job is to get the country out of an alternate universe in which Trump’s presidency actually wasn’t so bad,” as Lydia Polgreen Debate inside New York Times last week. “I think she can handle that better than most other Democrats.”
Biden was already trailing in the polls when he took the debate stage with Trump last week. But his disastrous performance made things worse: He not only seemed lost in swing states He needs to hold the presidency—he could fall behind in states like New Hampshire, Virginia, and New Mexico that are considered safe, raising the prospect of a lost election in November. “Everyone is panicking,” as one White House official said. speak Premise.
Not all polls are so bad: a CBS News poll release On Wednesday, Trump increased his lead nationally to about three points in battlegrounds and two points nationally, which is worrisome but still fixable. He can overcome it, though? Biden has offered little reason for optimism: He has reached out unevenly to nervous Democrats, his closest staff has shielded him from bedwetting skepticsand so far he has not ventured outside his choreographic confines to speak publicly. “It would be easy to address this issue right now,” CNN Jake Tappermoderator of last week’s debate, speak Tuesday, suggesting that a live press conference could help the campaign allay growing fears. “It’s not crazy to expect the president to do that.”
That he hasn’t done so, and probably won’t, says a lot about the limits of his candidacy: A CNN survey found that as many as 75 percent of voters believe Democrats would have a better chance of beating Trump if someone other than Biden were at the top of the ticket. And while Harris and others on the Democratic ticket seem to be lagging behind Trump right now, they’re at least on par with Biden in polling numbers—and in some polls better than him—without the attention, resources, and support that a campaign focused on them would bring. With the party unified around them, their prospects could improve—especially if it allows them to refocus the race on Trump’s corruption, authoritarianism, and his own aging and declining relevance.
It’s unclear whether Harris is the strongest candidate on the Democratic bench, but she may be the best choice to avoid what New Yorker‘S Jay Caspian Kang recently describe—in an article opposing Biden’s replacement—as “the chaos of the unknown.” She could inherit not only the campaign’s current war chest—something that is clearly unavailable to other alternatives like Gretchen Whitmer or Wes Moore—but also a sense of continuity. She can enjoy some of the perks of incumbency, without suffering from the particular weaknesses of that incumbent. “The more people understand the physics of the nomination battle, the stronger her candidacy becomes,” she said. Jamal Simmonsher former communications director, told Politico, on Wednesday, noted “vibe shift” around Harris. The Drudge Report went even further: “It’s Her Party Now,” is splash at the top of the home page.
