‘… 2024 could just be a throwback to times past, with Democrats being Democrats.’
AND so it has come to pass that after a disappointing (disastrous?) first debate performance, Joe Biden, the presumptive nominee for President of the Democratic Party, is under siege.
Elements of the party, supporters and funders are urging Biden to bow out of the race and pass the torch to someone else. They are arguing that the debate performance has focused the voters on Biden’s age and many are now questioning whether he is capable of carrying out his duties as President for four more years.
At a time when the focus should be on the character of his rival, Donald Trump, and his ability to carry out his duties as President being a convicted felon, Biden is now on the defensive, facing questions not only from voters but from within his very own party as well.
To be fair, there are opinion polls that show that not much has changed if you compare poll numbers before and after the debate, which show a slight Trump lead but within the margin of error. These numbers indicate that a considerable portion of the voting population has made up its mind: MAGA Republicans will vote for Trump despite his sins, while those who fear a Trump victory most will vote for Biden “even if all he does is sleep during Cabinet meetings.”
A caveat: US Presidents are not elected by the popular or direct one-man-one-vote system, the way we do it here, but by an Electoral College. So opinion polls are only slightly determinative of actual outcomes, as Hillary Clinton can tell you from her painful 2016 experience.
But back to the Biden-Trump battle that is shaping up: the battle will be for the undecided, especially those in the six or seven swing states. But even in those states, there are other factors to consider. Arizona, for example, may have abortion rights on the ballot in November — and this has been a galvanizing issue for Democrats and independents which could be the winning margin for Biden-Harris in that swing state.
So it’s early days, a good time for Biden to either quell the “revolt” or heed it.
I find it interesting that while Democrats are all agog discussing whether their presumptive nominee is “fit” to be president, no one from within the Republican Party is even raising questions about Trump. Oh, some did, like a congressman from New York or a congresswoman-daughter of a former vice president, but they have since been unceremoniously expelled from the party or have left the MAGA version of the GOP themselves. Any Republican who will dare question Trump the way Democrats question Biden should be prepared to be hounded out of the party in no time.
But this is how the Democrats have been, generally speaking. In 1960, John Kennedy had to beat back rivals to clinch the nomination. In 1968, they had a mess of a Chicago convention marked by riots in the streets. In 1972, it was messy too due to a vice-presidential issue. While 1976 was generally orderly, in 1980 a Senator (Edward Kennedy) challenged the incumbent President (Jimmy Carter) for the nomination. Except for 2020, 2016 and 2012, most previous conventions have been contentious to some degree.
So 2024 could just be a throwback to times past, with Democrats being Democrats.
