Will Biden Give Vice President Kamala Harris the Advantage of Running as President Kamala Harris July 8, 2024 Vol. XVII, No. 6 12:13 pm With Harris the Democratic nominee, Nikki Haley may be Trump’s best pick It’s over. President Joe Biden will likely soon announce that he will no longer seek a second term in
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Will Biden Give Vice President Kamala Harris the Advantage of Running as President Kamala Harris
July 8, 2024 Vol. XVII, No. 6 12:13 pm
With Harris the Democratic nominee, Nikki Haley may be Trump’s best pick
It’s over. President Joe Biden will likely soon announce that he will no longer seek a second term in the Oval Office. The CNN debate on June 27 confirmed what everyone already knew. Biden does not have the physical strength and mental acuity to be a competitive presidential candidate for the next four months, much less the strength and acuity to serve as president for another four years.
The problem Biden faces is that the 51.3 million viewers who watched the CNN debate (per Nielsen) cannot unsee what they saw. And it was not just a bad night as he and his loyalists insist, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Further, the comparatively scant 8.5 million viewers who watched Biden’s 22-minute Hail Mary interview Friday with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos cannot unsee what they saw. Biden failed to catch the game-winning pass in the endzone with no time on the clock. It’s over.
The downward spiral begins
And so, the downward spiral begins. As they always do, family, White House and campaign staff will circle the wagons this week. There will be strategic conversations throughout each day seasoned with denial and defiance. There will be breaking news of desperate dealmaking with party leaders.
This week, we will see a growing number of Democratic leaders, including senators who served with Biden for decades, announce publicly that the time has now come for Joe Biden, a national leader with over 50 years of service in Washington, DC, to take a final bow and walk off the field.
By week’s end, the viability of Biden’s reelection campaign will be so severely degraded by Democratic defections that the president, his family and staff will be forced to accept the inevitable.
You will know when the acceptance stage has been reached when the White House announces that the president has canceled all further campaign events. That the president is planning a major announcement during a nationally televised, prime-time address to the nation.
A week from now, as Republicans are arriving in Milwaukee for their convention, Biden may even steal Trump’s thunder by announcing not only that he is not running, but that he is resigning the presidency to allow Vice President Kamala Harris to campaign for election as President Harris.
Imagine that. At the same hour former president Trump is accepting the GOP nomination for president, President Kamala Harris is giving her first nationally televised prime-time address.
Political drama at its highest. Democratic swagger restored. Downright Trumpian.
Of course, if Harris were the Democratic nominee for president, running as President Harris, Trump would certainly counterpunch by picking Nikki Haley as his running mate.
Family time in Delaware, memoirs and presidential library
I know of no man who has demonstrated his love for family over a lifetime more than Joe Biden. He commuted to work by Amtrak from Delaware during his entire Senate career so he could be home with his sons every night. He stands proudly by his son, Hunter Biden, no matter the weaknesses.
Biden’s limited number of years of good health for time with his family in his beloved Delaware argues insistently for a decision to not seek a second term. And, if Biden does not seek another term, he can prioritize his work on his memoirs while his memory is good and oversee the conceptualization of his presidential library.
(Note: It took President Barack Obama four years to write his memoirs, A Promised Land. And the formal opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center, located in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago, is not until the late fall of 2025. That’s nine years after his administration.)
Bottom line: If Biden does not seek a second term, he can go ahead and enjoy the pleasure of retirement years with his family in Delaware and make sure he is remembered the way he wants to be remembered through his memoirs and presidential library.
More importantly in 2024, if Biden does not seek a second term, and resigns the presidency to allow Kamala Harris to campaign as President Kamala Harris, Democrats just may unite enthusiastically behind a ticket that has a better chance of defeating Donald Trump in November.
Imagine that. A Harris-Cooper (NC governor Roy Cooper) ticket vs. a Trump-Haley ticket.
Is this a great country or what!
END
Thank you for reading the John Davis Political Report
John N. Davis
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