Take it from me, Republicans: Kamala Harris is a strong candidate. Don't underestimate her
President Joe Biden told the American people Wednesday night that he graciously decided to bow out of the 2024 election because he wanted to unite his party and focus on his job as president. It was baloney.
In the most obvious display of pure political muscle, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her disciples forced President Biden into withdrawing from the presidential race.
It was an amazing performance and has no previous example in American history.
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There is a good argument that the debate with President Donald Trump proved President Biden was not capable of a nationwide campaign. From a cognitive capability standpoint, there are good reasons to hope President Biden steps down as president, too.
However, the way President Biden was forced out by party bosses has serious implications for the American system.
In some ways, Pelosi’s behavior is nothing new. She has become a sort of Democratic Party super boss. Recall, this is the Democratic leader who told members of Congress that they had to vote for the Affordable Care Act before they could read it. She was a remarkably effective Speaker of the House. Her ability to get her way with a narrow majority was astonishing.
Those years of acquiring power were brought to bear to force President Biden to give up power.
Pelosi orchestrated growing pressure on Biden to convince him he had no choice.
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President Biden was clearly coerced into withdrawing as a presidential candidate. He had no realistic alternative. Pelosi was going to unveil a wave of additional House and Senate members calling on him to withdraw this week. She had made it clear that he could go easy or go hard – but he was going to go.
One of the challenges left by Biden’s boss-led collapse is that the bosses then defined Vice President Kamala Harris’s almost certain candidacy.
Patrick Basham of the Democracy Institute had a poll in the field while this drama was unfolding. Its results are educational and pose a significant challenge to the Democrats. Among all Americans, 61 percent believe the method used to force President Biden out was undemocratic. Only 29 percent thought it was democratic to force him out.
When the follow-on question of replacing President Biden with Vice President Harris was asked, the results were similar. By 60 percent to 32 percent, Americans felt imposing Harris on the ticket was undemocratic. Interestingly, this feeling was widespread. Among Democrats, 55 percent thought it was undemocratic to have her replace Biden as the presidential candidate. Among independents, that sentiment of unfairness reached 65 percent. Of course, among Republicans, her nomination was seen as rigged by the largest majority, 79 percent. Note, however, that in this survey, majorities of Democrats, independents, and Republicans believed that nominating Harris this way was undemocratic.
Based on this polling, it is clear that Vice President Harris can legitimately be described as the party bosses’ candidate. She has never won a delegate. Even in her 2020 race, she dropped out early. This reinforces the notion that she has no grassroots appeal. She’s attractive only to the elites, who feel she is useful in defeating Trump.
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The dramatic changes of the last few days still leave two big challenges for the Democrats.
First, if President Biden is cognitively incapable of campaigning, how can he remain as president? His withdrawal from the presidential campaign strengthens the argument that he poses a national security risk as commander-in-chief.
Democrats will want this issue to go away. But if the cognitive decline is progressive, and there are two or three clear examples in the next few months, the pressure to replace him may increase dramatically. It will certainly be a distraction for Democrats – and a question about which citizens will increasingly ask their representatives and senators.
Second, Vice President Harris is well to the left of President Biden.
When she was in the Senate, she voted to the left of Sen. Bernie Sanders.
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On illegal immigration, Harris is much more radical than Biden. In April 2015, she told the San Francisco Chronicle that "an undocumented immigrant is not a criminal." As a presidential candidate she told the Washington Post she would seek the repeal of criminal penalties for people apprehended while crossing the border." She has been an enthusiastic cheerleader for every major Biden policy which increased the deficit and inflation.
On taxes, Harris favors a corporate rate higher than Venezuela.
However, Harris will turn out to be a much better candidate than Republicans think. As District Attorney and Attorney General of California, she was an effective litigator. In the Senate, she was an aggressive interrogator, especially with U.S. Supreme Court nominees.
She reminds me of some athletes who are great at game time but mediocre in practice. The vice presidency was practice, and she loafed through it, letting her laugh be a primary symbol. Now she will be in the real game. She may be shockingly better than Washington Republicans expect.
Harris will also have the advantage of assembling a team of Obama veterans. The opportunity to defeat Trump will draw them to the campaign. If she listens to them, she will be formidable.
It has been an amazing stretch from the assassination attempt on President Trump to now. It is not going to get smoother or more predictable.