How the DNC solved its Joe Biden problem

With President Joe Biden speaking in the headlining role, the first night of the Democratic convention seemed like it was going to be about passing the torch. And it was — not that the Democrats on stage made that explicit.

Biden’s address was late. It began around 11:30 pm Eastern time, so late that some pundits decided the DNC had buried his speech on purpose (a theory convention officials denied). When the president finally spoke, he entirely skipped over the obvious question raised by his presence: Why her and not him? Biden spent the vast bulk of the speech touting his own record in office, casting Harris as a champion of his legacy without spending a single word explaining why he needed a champion in the first place.

In this, Biden was hardly alone. Throughout the night, Democrats made sure not to acknowledge the unprecedented move that led to the sitting president giving the leadoff speech instead of the convention finale. The convention basically acted like Biden was a second-term president legally barred from running for office, not a president pushed aside by his own party.

This might seem awkward. But it was probably the best possible way to handle the situation. 

The elephant in the donkey room?

Political conventions are, in theory, multiday infomercials for the hosting party. They’re supposed to be carefully calculated to present the party in its best light, highlighting its strongest issues, most talented politicians, and clearest points of unity.

At the moment, the Democrats do have a pretty good story to tell. Harris is surging in the polls, buoyed by a level of enthusiasm among the party base not seen since Barack Obama topped the ticket. The economy is strong, crime is down, and there are no American troops dying in large-scale foreign wars. Things are so good, in fact, that election models and prediction markets alike now have her as a slight favorite to beat Donald Trump in November.

The last thing you want to do is ruin the party by dwelling on the recent past — especially the nasty, still-fresh internal fight over whether to replace Biden with Harris. Yet could Democrats really avoid acknowledging that the party had just made history by swapping out a presidential nominee after the primary?

Yes, it turns out — they could.

For most of the night, this felt natural. The programming focused on the choice facing voters in November, contrasting Harris (good!) with Trump (bad!). There was little need to dwell on Biden because he isn’t on the ballot.

This only started to feel strange when the night moved toward Biden’s address, with speeches by Biden-world figures: Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, first lady Jill Biden, and the president’s daughter Ashley. There are reports that the president remains angry and resentful about the whole thing, and it’s hard to imagine that his speech getting pushed till late didn’t feel like salt in the wound.

“This is awful. He literally set up a campaign and handed it over to them—do they have to cut him out of prime time?” a Biden aide griped to Axios reporter Alex Thompson.

Yet when the time came, Biden stuck to the script. He talked about himself, of course, but didn’t say or do anything that could be perceived as obvious sour grapes about Harris. He, like everyone else, just ignored the succession question. And the problem more or less took care of itself.

This acquiescence reflects Biden’s more general political style.

“Biden really did build and depend on a coalition instead of a cult of personality, to a greater degree than almost any modern POTUS,” writes Georgetown political scientist Matt Glassman. “He’s just not beloved the way Obama or Clinton or Reagan or, well, Trump was. That comes across in his approach to policy making, his approach to public relations, and his relationship with the factions of the party.”

Arguably, this is why Biden stepped aside amid party pressure when Trump would not (after the Access Hollywood tape, say, or the January 6 Capitol riot). But it also explains why Biden could resist the temptation to dwell on his own ouster and move on like it never happened.

He is, in the end, a party man.