Why Is Biden Hanging On? | City Journal
If Biden bows out before getting nominated, one can easily imagine a host of candidates emerging to replace him. Even if, as many prominent voices are urging, Biden throws his support to Vice President Kamala Harris, his pledged delegates will be allowed to vote for a candidate of their choosing. Elements in the Democratic Party would prefer other candidates besides Harris, whose own electability is a major question. Progressives dogged her 2020 campaign, for example, with taunts of Kamala is a cop, referring to her supposedly tough-on-crime stint as California attorney general, and delegates in favor of police abolition could easily support someone else. Her 2020 run fizzled out months before the first primary.
Though not much is expected of vice presidents, Harris s tenure has been especially mediocre. Soon after taking office, Biden assigned her the unenviable task of addressing the root causes of Central American poverty and instability; she told Latin Americans, Don t come to the United States. Aside from that, Harris has become the subject of viral social media memes mocking her ramblings about overcoming the burden of time in multiple speeches, as well as for her characteristic cackle, which erupts at awkward moments.
Even if Harris were to win the nomination at an open convention, the Democrats are not in a position to risk the possibility of floor fights over her candidacy, her choice of running mate, the party position on Israel, and so forth. The embarrassing cover-up of Biden s incapacity has already damaged the Democrats national credibility; public exposure of major ideological divisions within the party would not help their candidates in November. The Biden campaign s current efforts to tread water, which many find mystifying, may reflect the Democratic leadership s desire to carry the president over the line to the nomination, only then having him step aside in favor of a new candidate.
Why is Biden hanging on? Why did he go into politics in the first place? Why is Hunter such a sad, some might say contemptible, case? Why did Biden approve such a lightweight and apparently unintelligent running mate? You could ask these questions all day. That’s probably not good for you.