Printable Page Headline News   Return to Menu - Page 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 13
 
 
Biden Blamed by Harris Allies for Loss 11/07 06:15

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Joe Biden's name wasn't on the ballot, but history will 
likely remember Kamala Harris' resounding defeat as his loss too.

   As Democrats pick up the pieces following President-elect Donald Trump's 
decisive victory, some of the vice president's backers are expressing 
frustration that Biden's decision to seek reelection until this summer -- 
despite longstanding voter concerns about his age and unease about 
post-pandemic inflation as well as the U.S.-Mexico border -- all but sealed his 
party's loss of the White House.

   "The biggest onus of this loss is on President Biden," said Andrew Yang, who 
ran against Biden in 2020 for the Democratic nomination and endorsed Harris' 
unsuccessful run. "If he had stepped down in January instead of July, we may be 
in a very different place."

   Biden will leave office after leading the U.S. out of the worst pandemic in 
a century, galvanizing international support for Ukraine in the aftermath of 
Russia's invasion and passing a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that will 
impact communities for years to come.

   But having run four years ago against Trump to "restore the soul of the 
country," Biden will make way after just one term for his immediate 
predecessor, who overcame two impeachments, a felony conviction and an 
insurrection launched by his supporters. Trump has vowed to radically reshape 
the federal government and roll back many of Biden's priorities.

   "Maybe in 20 or 30 years, history will remember Biden for some of these 
achievements," said Thom Reilly, co-director of the Center for an Independent 
and Sustainable Democracy at Arizona State University. "But in the shorter 
term, I don't know he escapes the legacy of being the president who beat Donald 
Trump only to usher in another Donald Trump administration four years later."

   The president on Wednesday stayed out of sight for the second straight day, 
making congratulatory calls to Democratic lawmakers who won downballot races as 
well as one to Trump, who he invited for a White House meeting that the 
president-elect accepted.

   Biden is set to deliver a Rose Garden address Thursday about the election. 
He issued a statement shortly after Harris delivered her concession speech on 
Wednesday, praising Harris for running an "historic campaign" under 
"extraordinary circumstances."

   Some high-ranking Democrats, including three advisers to the Harris 
campaign, expressed deep frustration with Biden for failing to recognize 
earlier in the election cycle that he was not up to the challenge. The advisers 
spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment 
publicly.

   Biden, 81, ended his reelection campaign in July, weeks after an abysmal 
debate performance sent his party into a spiral and raised questions about 
whether he still had the mental acuity and stamina to serve as a credible 
nominee.

   But polling long beforehand showed that many Americans worried about his 
age. Some 77% of Americans said in August 2023 that Biden was too old to be 
effective for four more years, according to a poll by the AP-NORC Center for 
Public Affairs.

   The president bowed out on July 21 after getting not-so-subtle nudges from 
Democratic Party powers, including former President Barack Obama and former 
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He endorsed Harris and handed over his campaign 
operation to her.

   Harris managed to spur far greater enthusiasm than Biden was generating from 
the party's base. But she struggled to distinguish how her administration would 
differ from Biden's.

   Appearing on ABC's "The View" in September, Harris was not able to identify 
a decision where she would have separated herself from Biden. "There is not a 
thing that comes to mind," Harris said, giving the Trump campaign a sound bite 
it replayed through Election Day.

   The strategists advising the Harris campaign said the compressed campaign 
timetable made it even more difficult for Harris to differentiate herself from 
the president.

   Had Biden stepped aside early in the year, they said, it would have given 
Democrats enough time to hold a primary. Going through the paces of an 
intraparty contest would have forced Harris or another eventual nominee to more 
aggressively stake out differences with Biden.

   The strategists acknowledged that overcoming broad dissatisfaction among the 
American electorate about rising costs in the aftermath of the coronavirus 
pandemic and broad concerns about the U.S. immigration system weighed heavy on 
the minds of voters in key states.

   Still, they said that Biden had left Democrats in an untenable place.

   Harris senior adviser David Plouffe in a posting on X called it a 
"devastating loss." Plouffe didn't assign blame. He noted the Harris campaign 
"dug out of a deep hole but not enough."

   At the vice president's concession speech on Wednesday, some Harris 
supporters said they wished the vice president had had more time to make her 
pitch to American voters.

   "I think that would have made a huge difference," said Jerushatalla Pallay, 
a Howard University student who attended the speech at the center of her campus.

   Republicans are poised to control the White House and Senate. Control of the 
House has yet to be determined.

   Matt Bennett, executive vice president at the Democratic-aligned group Third 
Way, said this moment was the most devastating the party has faced in his 
lifetime.

   "Harris was dealt a really bad hand. Some of it was Biden's making and some 
maybe not," said Bennett, who served as an aide to Vice President Al Gore 
during the Clinton administration. "Would Democrats fare better if Biden had 
stepped back earlier? I don't know if we can say for certain, but it's a 
question we'll be asking ourselves for some time."

 
Copyright DTN. All rights reserved. Disclaimer.
Powered By DTN