Biden Out: Why It Should Be Harris

Five quick takes

We are living in an extraordinary political times. In just over a week, we saw an assassination attempt of Trump, the unveiling of his VP pick, the GOP convention, and Biden withdrawing from the race. In some ways, this was a reminder of the endless politics of the Trump administration. Every day it felt like history was happening. And it turns out this is both an exhausting and disorienting feeling.

I try to focus on policy and governing rather than campaigning, but here are five quick takes that try to make sense of what happened.

1. An Act of Extraordinary Political Selflessness

The first thing we should acknowledge is the extraordinary selflessness of Biden’s decision. Yes, everyone thanking Biden is saying this, but take a moment to think about it. People who become President are people who have looked at themselves in the mirror for much of their lives and decided “I should be President.” They are naturally ambitious people. Joe Biden is one such person. He ran for President early and often in his career, with little success. But twice in his career when he was in a strong position to take the Presidency, he chose not to.

In 2016, he was the sitting Vice-President, and had been unusually effective and visible in that role. In normal conditions, he would have been the frontrunner. He chose not to run, in large part because of his ongoing sense of grief from the loss of his oldest son, Beau Biden. He also faced pressure from within his Party that he should make way for Hilary Clinton, that it was her time to lead. Biden had every reason to feel chagrined, and every reason to feel vindicated that he would have been the stronger candidate. He must have been thinking about 2016 in the last months, how the conventional wisdom that devalued his skills was wrong. But still, he listened, and, eventually, consented to party and media pressure that he should drop out. This time, he was in an even stronger position. He had won the primaries, could not be pushed out without his consent, and he could point to a strong record.

It is hard for anyone not in his position to appreciate how much pride had to be swallowed to once again step aside. It was a decision which I hope will burnish his legacy as a selfless patriot who acted to protect the country. While Trump pressured his Vice President to overturn an election, Biden (belatedly) fulfilled his promise to be a bridge candidate to the next generation, endorsing his Vice President to take the lead.

2. Withdrawing as Candidate Does Not Mean Resigning as President

Trump, Mike Johnson and JD Vance have been calling on Biden to resign as President. If he can no longer run as candidate, they argue, he is no longer fit to be President, right?

This is a silly question, and there really is no reason for media (like Brian Stelter at CNN) to entertain it.

Here is the thing. There is a difference between campaigning and governing. Biden has never been a terrific campaigner, despite being quite good at governing. He has been a less effective campaigner than usual this year, and has blamed exhaustion from trying to both run the country and a presidential campaign.

Lets judge him by the results of his office. No-one can point to a single decision or policy where he outcome was negatively affected by Biden’s age or health conditions. In contrast to Trump, Biden used his Congressional majorities effectively, and has used the regulatory state well when lacking those majorities. Trump’s governing was ill-disciplined, even with the benefit of ample executive time. JD Vance has run nothing of national consequence, and Mike Johnson has run the least productive Congress in decades. These are not people who are serious about governing, and its perfectly fine not to take them seriously.

If there was a case that Biden was not turning up to meetings, or engaging with colleagues on substance, it would be a different story. The fact that we have not heard such stories from insiders despite the desperate search for fodder to make the case against Biden suggests they simply don’t exist on any meaningful scale.

So why do Trump et al want Biden out now? An obvious reason is to tie Harris to the White House while Trump is free to campaign.

3. The Media and Donor Class Said The Risk of Trump Was Too Great for Biden to Stay — Were They Serious?

Biden’s poll numbers were weakening but its not clear that anyone else, even untested candidates, polled much better. And those poll numbers cannot have been helped by an ongoing media campaign to push Biden out. “Campaign” may seem like a strong word, but media like the New York Times took the position that Biden was too old, and shaped their coverage around it, focusing on the topic relentlessly, and pouncing on Biden missteps even as they overlooked worse behavior from Trump.

With Biden gone, Trump is now the oldest ever candidate to run for President. He is prone to incoherent, nonsensical statements and outright fabrications. Unlike Biden, he has a track record of erratic decisions as President. And unlike Biden, he poses a serious threat to American democracy.

Will the media prosecute the case against Trump with the same zeal as they did against Biden?

A key part of their case against Biden was that the stakes are so high it would be irresponsible for him to stay in office if his exit could even marginally reduce the risks of a second Trump term. Having succeeded, will they actually behave in a manner consistent with their claims of the dangers of Trumpism? Harris is a normal and experienced Democratic politician. She is not Donald Trump, and there is no question about her cognitive capacity. Isn’t this what they wanted? At this point, having an open convention means a month of Democratic infighting. We don’t have the time to listen to those who say: “Anyone but Trump…or Biden…or, you know what, Harris either.” They are not serious about what is needed.

4. Harris Can Run on the Biden-Harris Record

A few hours before Biden withdrew, I read a story about how the FCC is using its regulatory power to cap the cost of calls to prisoners. It is an unflashy example of how Biden has, especially after Dems lost the House, used executive power to make people’s lives better, often against the opposition from private capital who profit by extracting resources from working families. There are a lot of these examples. When Democrats held the House, Biden was extraordinarily productive as a legislative President. There are parts of Biden’s record that people can justly criticize, but in terms of achievements that help working Americans, revitalizing US industrial policy, and battling environmental catastrophe, it has been a success.

The Biden record is strong. It would be a mistake to walk away from it. Harris is uniquely situated to make the case for what they have done relative to any rival candidate. In addition to being the obvious choice, endorsed by the President, and with the resources of Biden campaign funds, Harris is the right choice for Democrats who want to be able to compare how they have governed versus Trump. Biden-Harris has been an orderly, normal White House. No major scandals, no bizarre decisions. People may have forgotten how exhausting the Trump administration was. Harris can remind them. She can draw other contrasts. She is a former prosecutor competing against a convicted felon. A woman able to hold Trump accountable for the end of national abortion rights. She prosecuted for-profit scam colleges like the own Trump ran. A child of immigrants running against a man pushing for mass deportation.

5. The Evolution of Dog Whistle Politics

When Barack Obama won the Presidency, it fueled an extraordinary backlash. Don’t forget that Trump rose in Republican politics by riding the wave of birtherism. Now, Republicans will label Harris as a DEI Presidential candidate. This reflects a measure of success in labeling. Republicans like Chris Rufo have made the case that Black people in particular have systematically reached positions of power they should not occupy via DEI. Lots of respectable Republicans (and many Democrats) who might have sniffed at birtherism were happy to describe the President of Harvard to be a “DEI President.” Its just a new, more respectable version of dog-whistle racism.

Harris was more qualified for the job of VP than JD Vance was when he was picked, and she now has been in the job for four years, having been on a national ticket in 2020, and part of the primary ticket in 2024. Everyone knew Biden was old, and there was always some thinking that Biden might not make it to a second term. Being ready to be President is what the VP job is for. By contrast, Vance got the job because his very rich political sponsors and Trump’s son made the case to his Dad. As Lydia Polgreen noted: “We would do well to ask why only one of these two remarkable Americans stands accused of getting where she is based on D.E.I. The answer, I fear, is written on their faces.”

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The next 24-48 hours will be crucial for Harris within the Democratic Party. Who will join Biden in endorsing her? And which potential rivals will bow out, as Gretchen Whitmer and Josh Shapiro have done?

Even if she takes the nomination by acclamation, we will know much more about the prospects of an institutional defense against Trump by whether the media that once pushed Biden from the race now finds reason to dislike Harris, or to suggest she is an unworthy of a position she has spent the last four years preparing for.