Obama is the only Democrat with the stature and the coalition-wide credibility to give cover to those hoping to push Biden out.
I’m with Dominic: Joe Biden isn’t going anywhere. He loves being president. He’s yearned to to sit behind the Resolute Desk in the room without corners over the entire six decades (!) that he’s spent in public life. Joe Biden will leave the White House either in final electoral defeat or in a box. (And Dr. Jill’s not going to talk him into stepping down either — she loves being First Lady almost as much as Joe loves being president.)
So Democrats are stuck with Biden, and Biden is going to lose.
But what factor could possibly change this dynamic? If not Dr. Jill, who could possibly talk Biden down?
Rich is right that no elected Democrat wants to be the first to call on Biden to withdraw from the race. They’re all cowards. No Democratic politician wants to wound and weaken Biden even further in this moment. And no one wants to risk the fracturing of the coalition if an attempt is made to shove Kamala Harris aside for someone — anyone — more palatable. No one, not even the hyper-ambitious Gavin Newsom is going to risk getting tagged as the guy who sabotaged Biden and Harris and thus helped put Trump back in the Oval Office.
So if anything is going to happen to turn the great Democratic swap-out parlor game on Earth II into something approaching reality, it will necessitate Barack Obama’s publicly and forcefully calling on Joe Biden, his former veep, to step aside.
Obama is the only Democrat with the stature and the coalition-wide credibility to give cover to all the rest of them. If there is going to be a groundswell of public and private pressure on Biden to withdraw, it’s going to have to start with Obama.
Democrats can dream — but it’s not going to happen. Obama is no more interested than Newsom in rolling the dice on a party civil war that could be blamed on him. And no combination of Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, or Nancy Pelosi has the heft.
Barack Obama was never very interested in sticking his neck out to help his party. He famously didn’t mind much when down-ballot Democrats were defeated in droves, so long as his own toast was buttered on the way to reelection. He’s not going to start now.
Democrats are stuck with Joe.