Biden Quits Race
In the least surprising historic event ever, Joe Biden pulled out of the 2024 presidential race. The commentary that's flooded the internet is mostly one of relief. The most obvious problem for the Democrats has been addressed and to that extent we can all feel some comfort. Joe Biden has endorsed Kamala Harris to run in his place and it seems to be the obvious choice to start unifying the fraying factions of the Democratic Party. Not only has Biden endorsed her, the Clintons (remember them?) have also come out in support of Kamala Harris. Barack Obama has not, but then one would imagine something will get stage managed and he too will fall in line. After all it's the first of many elections to come where America will have to stave off the neo-fascist loony insurgency begin by Trump.
The scuttlebutt seeping out is that Biden was shown polling figures that strongly indicated he had no way to win. And so he did the obvious thing and pulled out. It's a shame that actual policy accomplishments and administrative achievements don't figure into any of these discussions. Only two days ago, Bernie Sanders was thundering saying the Biden is the most progressive POTUS of his lifetime. Seeing that Jimmy Carter was once POTUS in Bernie's time, I wonder how that squares.
Because his demeanour so obviously betrayed his decaying mental capacity in the last debate, Joe Biden was chased into quitting this race but really, he's been a fine president in the last 4 years. We owe him a debt of gratitude for keeping it together, and keeping the West together in the face of the Covid pandemic, Trumpism, and Putin's war.
I saw Owen Jones saying good riddance because Biden's presidency was still pro-Israel (as all other US Administrations have been) and the death count in Palestine has been too much, thanks to his support of Israel. That's a pretty long bow to draw. I tend to think the people on the ground on both sides of that war bear much more responsibility than Joe Biden or for that matter an Anthony Albanese or Rishi Sunak. I guess if we want to look at it through a very skewed prism, I can see why Joe Biden might appear to be a horrible President to you, but I tend to stand by Bernie Sanders on this. President Joe Biden's been pretty good. The real shame is indeed that he grew old. And everybody else knows it, Owen. Shame on you.
Gen-X? No Way
While we're on the topic of age, clearly the discussion can turn from Biden's age and frailty to Trump's age and his possible dementia. Kamal Harris is going to turn 60 in October, so contrary to the narrative, it's not exactly a generation change to go to Kamala Harris.
That's right. Born in late 1964, Kamala Harris is a tail-end Boomer, much like Anthony Albanese. So it's actually not a generational change to go to Harris at all, it's just that they could indeed find a Boomer who was born at the end of the Boomer era. While the Boomer constituency is steadily dying, those that are still alive and operating in political circles are still powerful, so once again, America doesn't quite change generations - but we'll take it. As the old joke about Alan Jones and the parrot and emu goes, "close enough!"
It's in stark contract to the republicans who did decide to go with a Millennial as their Vice President candidate in JD Vance, born 1984. If Trump beats Harris and then has a heart attack, we skip right to a Millennial. To be honest, I'm not that worried about him being a Millennial - I'm more concerned that he has firmly nut-job ideas, and that he's been let into the inner circle of US Politics. But then again, there's already Donald J Trump. I think the best I can say about Vance is that I've seen Dan Quayle and JD Vance is no Dan Quayle.
The Early Optimistic View
The early narrative is that Harris will use her skills honed as a prosecutor to cross examine Trump's dodgy clams and promises as well as put to him that he's nothing but a common felon. This strikes me as Hollywood fantasy. I've watched a few interviews of Harris to gt a better feel for her and the one thing that poked out from it all was that she's actually not a great interviewee and that she doesn't really cut to the quick. She certainly doesn't strike mw as the sharp District Attorney in TV shows who go after the big bad. Maybe I've watched too many legal shows over the years but she sure doesn't strike me like an incisive prosecutor who would pull apart a bad alibi.
That said, the democratic base seems to have been awoken by this change and there are reports of campaign funds flooding in. I guess there have been a heck of a lot of fence-sitters waiting for something to happen. It's amazing how these events have made the assassination attempt on Donald Trump yesterday's news in a hurry. I think I pointed out some weeks ago that a week can be a long time in politics. Biden's withdrawal has demonstrated this to be true.
So maybe the Democrats will efficiently coalesce behind Kamala Harris, find a good running partner who can tide over the swing states, and go on to beat the Trump-Vance ticket.
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