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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."
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