It’s a view shared widely, but quietly, among numerous Democratic Party strategists. The Biden era of the presidency is over, and it shouldn’t be expected to go any further than a single term. From inflation to Afghanistan, there’s nothing this administration has been able to tackle successfully.
The word on the street from strategists and newly elected Democratic freshman is that Biden has become a drain on the party, and no amount of appearances on the Jimmy Kimmel show will do anything to change it:
Interviews with nearly 50 Democratic officials, from county leaders to members of Congress, as well as with disappointed voters who backed Mr. Biden in 2020, reveal a party alarmed about Republicans’ rising strength and extraordinarily pessimistic about an immediate path forward.
“To say our country was on the right track would flagrantly depart from reality,” said Steve Simeonidis, a Democratic National Committee member from Miami. Mr. Biden, he said, “should announce his intent not to seek re-election in ’24 right after the midterms.”
It would be unwise to announce anything before the midterm and send a further shock and admission of failure to Democratic voters. If Biden were to announce himself a lame duck, it would further bolster Republican gains in November.
Biden, for the moment, is doing one of the few wise things he’s done so far. Repeat over and over again, adamantly, that he still intends to run for re-election in 2024 despite his awful record and concerns over his health and age.
Some Democrats, such as Jasmine Crockett, a Texas state representative, are much more in tune with what’s happening on the ground among Democratic votes who simply lack enthusiasm and wonder how the country got this out of control so quickly under Biden:
Still, Ms. Crockett lamented a stark enthusiasm gap between Republicans, who in Texas have passed legislation to restrict voting rights and abortion rights while expanding gun rights, and Democrats, who have not used their narrow control of the federal government to advance a progressive agenda.
“Democrats are like, ‘What the hell is going on?’” Ms. Crockett said. “Our country is completely falling apart. And so I think we’re lacking in the excitement.”
Yes, there are plenty of Democrats asking about Biden, “what the hell is going on?”
The baby formula shortage was apparently on the radar of the FDA back in February of 2021. That’s almost a full solid year ahead of when the FDA was taking any kind of action in January of this year. What was Biden’s FDA doing that was so pressing? Oh, that’s right, pushing Covid-19 vaccines with a singular focus on only one public health matter, everything else be damned.
The real fear is that if Biden does, for some inexplicable reason, try to run for re-election in 2024, he would be firmly trounced by Donald Trump, or whomever Republicans put forward:
The anxiety about Mr. Biden extends to the core of his political base. Adrianne Shropshire, the executive director of BlackPAC, an African American political organizing group, said her chief concern was that Black voters, having watched Mr. Biden and Democrats fail to deliver on core promises, don’t come back to vote in November.
“Does this frustration and the malaise and the worry and the fear, does that translate into an ongoing enthusiasm gap, and does that cause people to feel like their participation doesn’t make significant change?” she said. “That’s the real question.”
Even some of the earliest supporters of Mr. Biden’s 2020 campaign are now questioning whether he can lead the party through another daunting election cycle against Mr. Trump.
Biden didn’t have what it took in 2020, but Covid-19 allowed him to campaign from his basement, avoid doing much in public, and spend most of the time behind a camera. Running again in 2024 will not provide that same luxury.
Everyone, including Democrats that voted for him in 2020, knows Biden simply cannot and will not run for re-election in 2024. His record is terrible and his cognitive decline has become a liability every time he speaks off the cuff.
These kinds of stories and comments from Democratic strategists are designed to reinforce the view that Biden needs to step aside in 2024 in the hope that it gets through to the President. He served his term, now stand down and let someone else take up the mantle for Democrats.
