No Mo' Joe. Which Way Will Dems Go?

The weekend ended with the not completely unexpected news that Joe Biden is standing down from his reelection campaign, and has endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, as his party's nominee.

I know little about how the Democrats will formally change their ticket, but I doubt this endorsement alone makes Harris Trump's opponent in November.

Given all the headlines questioning the Veep's electability, including a lengthy piece at The Free Press, I'd say there's a non-zero chance someone will step forward to challenge her.

Setting aside policy considerations for the sake of argument, there's ample room for improvement, as the following paragraphs from the Free Press piece indicate:

... One of her biggest weaknesses is that she doesn't seem to have any principles. Her stance on criminal justice reform is a key example. Is she soft or tough on crime? Looking at her record as a prosecutor, it's nearly impossible to say.

...

Meanwhile, America has had almost four years to witness Harris as vice president, and her record is not good. She holds the dishonor of being in charge of the Biden administration's border policy. Illegal border crossings at the end of 2023 hit an all-time high, and the border is now the signature issue of the Trump-Vance campaign. Harris was also the White House point person in 2022 on voting rights legislation -- which failed to get out of Congress.

She also suffers from an unpopularity problem, known for her bad habit of laughing at inappropriate times in a cringe-inducing cackle. "When I talk to voters, they all say she is hated, but then they pause and say, 'I don't really know why, though,'" James Johnson, cofounder of the polling firm J.L. Partners, told me.

People who know her best also seem to consider her a terrible boss. In June 2021, White House staffers told Politico that people in the vice president's office "are thrown under the bus from the very top, there are short fuses and it's an abusive environment." By early 2022, four of her most senior advisers had bolted for the exits, prompting The Washington Post to report that many of her critics and supporters "worry that her inability to keep and retain staff will hobble her future ambitions." [bold added]

To be fair, you could say any of these about Donald Trump: Did you know that nearly a dozen people from his past administration won't endorse him for another term?

One could argue that age could be advantageous to Harris in a race between two unlikable candidates, but this is a cop-out. Trump has a core of true believers behind him that Harris simply doesn't have, and he has found a possibly winning coalition of voters during this time of political realignment.

I'd probably vote for Joe Manchin in this election. (Image by United States Congress, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.)

So Harris -- or any other Democrat candidate -- needs to offer something positive for voters to rally behind. The eventual nominee needs to be able to appeal both to most of the remaining Democrat core constituency, and to persuadable voters.

Above all, remember that this is a general election. If the Dems pick someone who is little better than a stalking-horse for unpopular and destructive left-wing positions, such as Net Zero, they will lose badly.

My two cents would be for someone to run on a moderate platform that includes a promise to legally codify abortion rights -- a position that Democrats happen to support that would also appeal to many independents.

Joe Manchin, anyone?

Many Democrats have rightly praised Biden for stepping down for the good of the country. But it will only be a good thing if the nominee can actually defeat Donald Trump. This isn't a tall order, but don't forget who was ahead in the polls before this annoucement.

Choosing someone from the center would be a big help, and I'm pretty sure Harris wouldn't be that person even without the above-noted baggage.

-- CAV