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Dear Joe,
You made it. You ran for president for decades, and you finally did it. On top of that, you did the best you could dealing with some genuinely absurd and unprecedented issues, and all told did a completely acceptable if not a pretty good job.
Now, if you actually care about the country you’ve spent your entire life serving, it’s time to resign, let Kamala finish out your term, and give her the opportunity to run the race as an incumbent. There is no shame in recognizing the time has come. Literally everybody gets old, it’s kinda fundamental. To be clear, I don’t like Kamala one bit, I think she’s a problematic candidate with a problematic record, and a terrible communicator. But she’s an intelligent and vital human being with relevant experience. Stress on the vitality, meaning she’s not in her final months of life.
Sorry, but your age really does matter. Frankly, you have one of the only jobs in the world where your age matters so much. Kamala won’t embarrass us nearly as much as you did during the debate. There’s nothing you can say that will convince me that you’ll magically get younger and more vital in the next few months, so again, if you care about this country, you need to step aside immediately, and put all of the party’s establishment support behind Kamala. Anything less is selfish. If Kamala, as an incumbent president, can’t beat Trump—a man who promises to use his new immunity in the worst ways possible—I don’t think you would again either.
Sincerely, An exhausted patriot
I mostly agree with you. That said I don’t think Harris should be considered a replacement. Who I want to see is some combination of Gretchen Whitmer, Elizabeth Warren, AOC and Pete Buttigieg. I do recognize none of those are likely to run and I’m no expert on who should.
I’m with you, I’m not a fan of Kamala. I think any of your suggestions would be a way better candidate than her if she hadn’t already won on the current administration’s ticket. The fact that Kamala’s name was on the winning ticket is huge. Incumbency is so important, arguably way more important than it should be, but even a few months of being president would give her a huge leg up over any candidates who might look better on paper. It would take a ton of humility on Joe’s part for this to be a viable plan, but I think he’s capable of it.
Nothing about this situation is ideal, so I’m prepared to settle for pretty much anyone other than Trump.
Not Harris. Full Stop.
I mean, practically speaking, she’s the most realistic option with the way stupid internal party politics work. Again, I don’t like her, and I like the Democratic Party establishment even less, but I like democracy more than I dislike her. Since her name was on the ticket, Joe would have a much easier time transferring his delegates to her at the convention. Many of those delegates are bound by their state law to vote for Biden, btw. If he steps down, they could relatively easily go to Harris instead. Anyone else would require a bloody open convention that I’m not confident the party could survive, let alone win the race after.
I’m open to anything that lets us win, honestly. But we can’t afford to just shut down alternatives because it sounds hard or might not be exactly what we want. Have any suggestions?
“realistic” less so than “convenient”, imo, and the run-up would be a shitshow of all her previous press plus the crucible of 24/7 media coverage which - she’s ok but I don’t know that she’s up to that. That doesn’t fill me with more confidence than Biden - markedly less.
Alternatives for me who are mixes of strenghths are: Warren, Schiff, AOC, Bernie, - and I’ve come around to Whitmer, I mistakenly confused her with a different politician at first. She’d be preferable to Harris if only for the reason that theoretically she’d come with Michigan. Possibly others, but agreed on wanting to prevent an open convention fight, that’s a helluva gamble.
Yeah, all good and valid points. I’m a big fan of Whitmer, but AOC is my favorite on that list to be sure. As much as I love Bernie, he’s too old. I just don’t see it being easier for any of them than it would be for Harris, taking into account the institutional party support she would automatically have if Biden resigned.
I think you’re totally right that Harris would struggle with constant media attention though, so that’s not great. But ugh, I just want this to be done.
AOC/Bernie? He’ll once again call on you for your support!? 😄
Who the hell would it be? The DNC isn't going to convene next month and appoint an all new candidate that no one has even pretended to vote on. At least with Kamala they have that justified. She was on the winning ticket and she is the current vice. I hate Kamala and she has a lot of bad traits for running against Trump, mostly the fact that she's a woman would be enough to reinvigorate the Republican party. I would much rather see an AOC or Warren for my personal tastes. I hate the current conservative democratic party. But no one out of left field would be realistic in this situation. It would splinter the party at a bad time. Everything is so fucked all we can hope for is a sentient human to run for office.
It is realistically Biden or Harris. And even more realistically it is Biden. No way this changes now. Everything else is just a pipe dream.
Not Biden and not Harris means you want Trump to run unopposed at this point unfortunately. Almost all of the state filing deadlines have passed. TBH I'm not even sure if Harris could run.
Oh so if Biden and Harris died there wouldn’t need to be an election?
Or does their dying mean Chuck Schumer is the Presidential candidate for Dems?
If Biden dies it gets super hairy because every state has different rules. Either way the RNC is going to challenge eligibility in basically every blue and purple state because why wouldn't they?
May as well get it over with then. RepubliQans can officially choose party over country and end all debate as to whether they’re a billionaire funded incompetent mafia or not.
So... hand it to King Trump then? Got it.
Ha, yeah no. But IF this is even a thing, you’re saying that because the filing dates have passed in all states, our only option is Biden (fine, makes sense) or Harris (wut), who also didn’t file in any states because . . Is it like Tag where whoever Biden touches last can run for President?
You're ignoring the "I'm not even sure if Harris could run" that I put in my first comment. Since she's filled for vp already there may be a path but I'm not sure. What I do know is that any challenge to the nominee is going to be a gigantic problem for the democrats (the irony of Trump being a convicted felon and that's not a problem for Republicans doesn't escape me)
Ahh okay so Biden or nothing is essentially your take on all the “replacement” hullabaloo. Fair enough. It would definitely be a unique situation.
That's like some magic spell or something. Being the president for a few months, while you actually spend most of your time campaigning, can not possibly make someone that much more electable.
I also don't want Harris, but pushing out the only black person on the ticket for a bunch of honkeys might irritate some voters. I don't see why she can't stay as the VP candidate. It'll just take some coordination.