Vaporware for President, revisited
Let’s review. Yes, more denizens of Capitol Hill are calling for Joe Biden to withdraw as the Democrats’ nominee for president, including last night Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Yes, there are a lot of unanswered questions as to how that would work. They’re playing a lot of fantasy football right now inside the Beltway and too few of them are adults. Too many are unnamed sources close to … someone who heard something from someone.
Politico reports that several of those someones dished on a California meeting where several members of the Democratic delegation “talked about the potential political downsides of party elites quickly crowning the vice president as the next nominee.” Harris has to earn it, they mean. What “crowning” means is unclear since delegates still must vote.
What’s preferred, especially by a teething press and the “Open Convention Wrestlemania crowd,” is a free-for-all, may the best man or woman win process. Great TV. Drama. Pathos. Thrill of victory and agony of defeat stuff. In this scenario, delegates committed to Joe Biden, if released, should be able to vote their consciences. If they all pivot to a Biden-endorsed Harris, no one’s fee-fees will be hurt, see? Clean. Neat.
Or the present chaos could compound (Politico):
“Should he make that decision, there will have to be quick steps. I don’t think we can do a coronation, but obviously the vice president would be the leading candidate,” [Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.)] said, floating a “mini primary” with events that she said could be hosted by former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
The idea of a so-called “blitz primary” has become a popular idea among many House Democrats, including in the California delegation. It had initially been floated by people close to the Obama administration, according to one person familiar with the internal discussions. But others in the party have dismissed it as farcical with so little time until the convention.
Farcical indeed.
Back in February, FIVE MONTHS AGO, former Senate staffer Lawrence O’Donnell ran down just how farcical. Please review:
Yet, this process has become a farce anyway, a potentially deadly one for the country.
In February, Politico thought it important to game out a “Plan B” for Democrats: “Because of procedural and political hurdles, it would not be easy to simply swap [Biden] out. The likeliest outcome is that Biden stays on the ticket.” Then, as O’Donnell noted, they spent another 1,300 words considering those unlikely outcomes that are still unlikely for all the same procedural and political reasons. Because that’s what a horse-race press does.
O’Donnell asked a version of what I asked, what AOC asked: What’s the game plan? People working to push Biden out don’t seem to have one. But they may succeed in elbowing him out nevertheless.
Here’s what’s real. The 2024 election isn’t Biden vs. Trump. It’s Democrats’ turnout operation vs. the GOP’s. Some Democratic politicians claim they’re not getting volunteers with Biden atop the ticket. IF TRUE, a Harris ticket might close that enthusiasm gap. Let’s hope. (That’s where you come in.) But if the anti-Bidens have a post-Biden plan, we’re not hearing anything beyond fantasy football.
Tell me when it’s over.
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