On the menu today: The president of the United States, having been away from the public eye for six days, reemerges as a disembodied voice on a speakerphone — President Charlie from Charlie’s Angels. This is how Biden’s presidency ends — not with a bang, but with a whimper. Elsewhere, reminders of just how far left Kamala Harris’s vision for the country is; evidence of how Democrats, and the media, are much more fired up over Harris’s vision than they were about President Old Guy’s; signs we’re in a reboot of 1968; and where you can see me Friday.
President Charlie from Charlie’s Angels
This is how the Biden presidency reaches its denouement — a voice on a speakerphone cheering on Kamala Harris, an unseen presence like Charlie from Charlie’s Angels.
Biden is here, but not here; the leader of his party, but not the leader of his party; the commander in chief, but not really in command anymore. He’s Schrödinger’s president
For what it’s worth, when Biden called in to his old campaign headquarters to offer words of support for Harris yesterday, he didn’t sound that bad, or at least not all that different than he has in his last few public appearances. And the latest update from Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, reports that he’s almost back to normal amid his bout with Covid:
His symptoms have almost resolved completely. His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature remain absolutely normal. His oxygen saturation continues to be excellent on room air. His lungs remain clear. The President continues to perform all of his presidential duties.
If Biden’s symptoms have almost resolved completely and his vitals are absolutely normal, why is this guy harder to see than J. D. Salinger? I am not exaggerating when I say there have been more Bigfoot sightings than Biden sightings in the past week.
As of this writing, the last time Biden was seen by the American public was when he got off Air Force One on July 17. For the past six days, the message has been consistent: He’s absolutely fine, and no, you can’t see him.
Is Biden pouting? Is he on such an intense emotional roller-coaster that he can’t stand before the American people and explain his decision yet? Was it his decision? Was he threatened with the use of the 25th Amendment, as unnamed sources claimed to the New York Post?
In Biden’s letter, he pledged, “I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.” Ironically, the news cycle has already moved on.
Our Noah Rothman contends that this is unsustainable — that whenever Biden appears again, he’ll reaffirm that he’s a liability to the party and the country, and a bipartisan consensus will emerge that Harris should take the oath of office as soon as possible:
The party will probably have to reprise its display of collective action to push the president out of office once and for all. The opportunity will present itself after the Democrats’ nominating convention, in which Biden will be given a lavish sendoff, deliver a tightly scripted farewell address, and hand proceedings off to Harris, who will debut her vice-presidential pick. After continuity has been established, Biden’s allies will insist, the president’s best course of action will be to surrender the reins to his deputy so she can run for the White House as an incumbent.
Meet, or Re-Meet, Kamala
A reader urged me to spotlight this 2019 list of highlights — er, lowlights — from Harris’s career. For example, she once used $750,000 in federal funds to create a job-training program for illegal-immigrant criminals:
As San Francisco district attorney, Harris created “Back on Track,” an anti-recidivism program that she expanded as state attorney general. The program received $750,000 in federal funding and quite a bit of praise from crime-policy experts. But it faced criticism early in its history, when illegal immigrant Alexander Izaguirre, who had pleaded guilty to selling drugs, was selected and graduated, only to later grab a woman’s purse and run her down in an SUV, severely injuring her.
As the Los Angeles Times put it, “Harris’ office had been allowing Izaguirre and other illegal immigrants to stay out of prison by training them for jobs they cannot legally hold.” Harris said she had been unaware that Back on Track had been training illegal immigrants and that they would no longer be eligible for the program.
Veronique de Rugy on Harris’s economic record:
She is also a protectionist and voted against president Trump’s free-trade USMCA (U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement). During her first campaign (she got fewer votes than the Democrat who won the primary in Samoa this year, as I learned from Matt Continetti), she supported Medicare for All (though she later modified her stance. That means she may shift again), the Green New Deal, federal paid family leave, and free college tuition for most Americans. These are only a few things she is for, in addition to all the things that happened during the last few years.
Power hunger is not limited to the smart, the competent, or the eloquent. Incompetence is not limited to the meek. Disregard for America’s Constitution, laws, and basic civics can proceed as much from ignorance as from malice. Harris, raised in the progressive hothouse of the San Francisco Bay Area, is reflexive rather than considered because she has never really had to engage with opposing ideas, win the support of people who disagree with her, or pay a political price for disregarding their rights.
The New Dynamics of Trump vs. Harris
It’s easier for Democrats to get fired up about four years of President Kamala Harris than to pretend to be excited about four more years — well, an additional undetermined amount of time — of President Old Guy.
Democrats are extremely comfortable when they’re running a younger, multiracial candidate against an old Republican white guy who they claim is crazy. They executed that gameplan to perfection in 2008, and between now and Election Day, we’re going to see the Obamamania playbook dusted off. Kamala Harris will be touted as the embodiment of all things cool, your fun aunt, America’s “Mom-ala,” as Drew Barrymore cringe-inducingly asked her to be.
You’re going to hear a lot of hosannas for Harris’s effectively locking up the nomination within 24 hours or so of Biden’s announcement. But this is also a statement that every other potential contender in the Democratic Party sees knocking off Harris at the convention and then reuniting the party to beat Donald Trump in the general election as too tall an order.
If you’re a figure like Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, or Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, you’ve got a decent shot of being Harris’s running mate if you just stand pat and endorse her quickly. Play your cards right and you’ll be the vice president, or, failing that, you’ll get the consolation prize of a plum cabinet post; if Harris loses, people aren’t likely to blame you, unless you bomb in your home state.
I figure it takes about two weeks for this change to get “digested” by the American electorate. The early polling for Democrats isn’t all that good — Trump is up by four points nationally in Quinnipiac’s survey, up six points nationally in the Forbes/HarrisX poll, and up five points in Georgia in the Atlanta Journal Constitution poll. But let’s see where things stand after the mid-August Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which now looks like it will be a coronation full of shiny happy people holding hands, if you’ll let me indulge my inner Jeff Blehar.
Finally, Jeremy Bailin writes, “People keep saying ‘unprecedented’ like there’s never been an election when a Democratic incumbent drops out, Robert F. Kennedy is running, the Democratic convention is in Chicago, there’s an unpopular foreign war, the Republican nominee is a crook who thinks he’s above the law, and a leading candidate gets shot.”
You know how this 1968 re-run ends, right? With a Jets Super Bowl win.
ADDENDUM: Busy day yesterday — you can walk through my day with Duane Patterson sitting in for Hugh Hewitt, the Three Martini Lunch with Greg Corombos, The Megyn Kelly Show, and The Editors.
If you’re in the D.C. area, you can see me Friday morning as the Washington Post tapes “First Look” — RSVP here!
Jonathan Capehart speaks with Post columnists Jim Geraghty and Eugene Robinson about the unprecedented developments in the 2024 presidential contest, what’s next for Democrats and Biden’s political legacy.
Date & Time
Friday, July 26
8:15 a.m. Doors open & coffee networking
9:00 a.m. Programming begins
10:00 a.m. Meet The Post: Network with top Post writers and editors
Location
The Washington Post
1301 K Street, NW