Keeping Joe Biden at the top of the ticket
Democrats need to convince voters that Kamala Harris is ready to step up to the Oval Office.
I have never met President Biden, and I certainly have no insight into his health. I also don’t have access to the polling data required to make an informed political decision. I didn’t see the debate that generated the anxiety over our president’s future, as I was asleep in Italy when the event was broadcast. I also haven’t run a political campaign beyond my Massachusetts town of 46,000 residents.
With those disclaimers, I feel qualified to offer some solid advice to my friends and fellow Democrats. Chill. There is no advantage in making a quick decision about keeping or replacing President Biden on the 2024, and there is a tremendous strategic advantage for delaying a decision.
Over the past week, media reports have been filed with anxious Democrats, unsettled by the ambiguity and uncertainty of the President’s ability to make another run for the White House. However, Democrats don’t need to decide about their ticket until their convention in August. Republicans need to lock in their ticket within the next two weeks.
The Republican National Convention begins on July 15, and by the end of that week the Republican ticket will be cemented in place. The GOP will have four days of intense media attention, and Democrats will benefit if Donald Trump and MAGA world is uncertain of the identity of his opposing ticket until after the convention.
If the Republicans are unable to focus on the composition of the Democratic ticket, it will dilute their Milwaukee messaging. If President Biden withdraws from the race, the predictable attacks on Biden’s age will be wasted, and will have the unintended consequence of emphasizing Donald Trump’s advanced age. Republicans will be certain to target Kamala Harris, without knowing which position on the ticket she will occupy. If the GOP doesn’t know if the Vice President will move up to the top of the ticket, they won’t be able to present a strategy to counter the Democrats’ choice for VP. Donald Trump won’t be able to choose a running mate based on how they match up in a debate with the Democrat.
When Donald Trump speaks, he repels swing voters. Since the debate, Trump has been strategically and unusually silent while Democrats publicly fret over President Biden’s poor debate performance. Democrats would be well advised to chill the public discussion of the President’s future, while strategically promoting Vice President Harris’ strength as a governing partner. Democrats should attempt to fill the next week of news cycles with anything other than President Biden’s age.
Eighty years ago, voters re-elected a critically ill Franklin D. Roosevelt, despite Thomas E. Dewey’s constant effort to describe FDR as a “tired old man,” President Roosevelt died less than three months into his fourth term.
While the 1944 election was being held as Allied troops were beginning to push into Germany, we can argue that the differences between Roosevelt and Dewey were far less substantial than the different paths our nation will take this year. I am not alone when I say that the alternative is so grim, I will gladly vote for the Democratic ticket regardless of who is on the top of the ticket.
Jow Biden’s first term has been successful and consequential. He has earned a second term. If President Biden withdraws, I find it difficult to see how anyone other than Vice President Harris moves to the top of the ticket. If President Biden is re-elected and unable to complete a second term, Vice President Harris will move into the presidency. In any case, we end up in the same place. Rather than trying to predict the future health of the President, Democrats are best served by getting on message by demonstrating the Vice President’s readiness to take over the presidency, while enthusiastically campaigning for the Biden-Harris ticket.
I wholeheartedly agree with everything in your post. Well said and to the point!