There have been various solutions proposed to deal with the uncomfortable fact that Joe Biden looks like a loser heading into the 2024 election. One idea proposed by NY Times columnist Ezra Klein was for Joe Biden to stand aside and let the Democratic Party choose a successor at an open convention.
As I and others (including Klein himself) pointed out there was a real possibility an open convention in Chicago in 2024 could be a repeat of the last open convention which Democrats held in Chicago in 1968, where the party was sharply divided over a war. It seems risky to say the least.
In the same piece in which he proposed the open convention, Klein also addressed the other problem with his plan: Kamala Harris.
Everybody I have talked about this, literally everybody, has brought up the same fear. Call it the Kamala Harris problem. In theory, she should be the favorite. But she polls slightly worse than Biden. Democrats don’t trust that she would be a stronger candidate. But they worry that if she wasn’t chosen it would rip the party apart.
In other words, you really need Biden and Harris to step aside to make this plan work. But while Biden’s decision to step aside might be greeted with some quiet relief among most Democrats, any attempt to push Harris aside would instead be met with outrage.
Which brings us to another proposal to save Biden’s chances that appeared in the Washington Post yesterday. Columnist Kathleen Parker argues that Biden’s chances would improve if Harris would simply agree to step aside.
The Kamala conundrum comes down to this: She was picked because she was Black and female, a combo tantamount to job security. Now that she has become a burden to the Democratic ticket, Biden can’t fire her. He can’t risk alienating his base. Full stop. The seriousness of this situation can’t be overstated. Biden’s diminishing faculties, notwithstanding his relatively successful State of the Union address, and his increasing physical frailty are concerning.
Her performance as second in command has been disappointing, to say the least. Americans have taken note. Though Democrats unsurprisingly like her more than Republicans do, a recent analysis by FiveThirtyEight set her average overall approval rating at just 37.2 percent, among the lowest recorded for a vice president.
There’s no reason to think her ranking would spike were she suddenly promoted to the Oval Office. Instead, most signs point to disaster. This is why I propose with all due respect that Harris step away from the ticket.
This isn’t the first time a columnist has made this suggestion. David Ignatius suggested it as a back up plan to Biden himself stepping down last September.
In any case, it’s true that Harris has been a disappointment which is why you don’t see her much. Her approval rating is as low or lower than Biden’s own approval rating. So if the party is committed to going with Biden which it is at this point, they could at least get a shot in the arm by picking someone else as VP who seems more up to the job of stepping in if something were to happen to Biden. It’s possible to imagine an alternate reality where Democrats are able to a) admit they have a problem and b) turn the solution into a plus for the campaign. But that alternate reality isn’t where we live as Kathleen Parker found out.
In the 24 hours since her column was published, it has received comments from 10,141 readers, a majority of whom just wanted to let her know that she is a racist and a misogynist. A sample:
- Blatant racism. Why is the Post publishing such?
- Fire that writer and ban her from these pages
- what an awful misogynistic, racist piece of smelliness
- Shame on you, your true colors are showing.
- This is racism. Why did you publish this, WaPo? Fire this creature.
- Like most republican women, Kathleen Parker hates women and the rights of women.
- Careful, your southern plantation views are showing
- Why is this racist disgusting piece of recycled hits on the veep WaPo’s number one featured opinion?????
- Is this the Washington Post or Fox “News”??
- Such an ugly piece. I expect the sexism from the boy’s club but it is painful to see it internalized like this.
- What’s the matter, Kathleen. Is she a bit too black?
- It is truly remarkable and quite the indictment of the Washington Post opinion section that in the year 2024 they are still publishing blatantly bigoted columns like this from Kathleen Parker.
- What a sexist, racist, rant.
- Yes, women of color are icky. That’s the message from this white lady.
- You’re a walking insult to any woman with an ounce of self respect and dignity. A repulsive human being.
- This kind of snarky ignorance should not be printed by the WAPO.
- What a sexist column!
- I started to read this column but I had to withdraw prematurely because I’ve already exceeded my quota of racist, misogynistic concern trolling for the current calendar year.
- This is a shamefully racist OpEd the WP should have opted not to print. Sad.
- This may be the most racist column I’ve seen in years. On the other hand, it’s what I expect from Ms Parker.
- A truly offensive column. Repugnant is the only word I can use.
- Thanks but no thanks Trump-lite…WaPo what is this sexist, racist, ageist bs?
- What a disgusting, untrue, racist, and misogynistic opinion.
- I can not believe this racist trash was allowed to be published.
I could go on and on but you get the idea. For a tremendous number of Democrats, the suggestion that Harris hasn’t done a great job and wouldn’t be a great president is racist, sexist BS that should immediately lead to the person who spoke up being fired or silenced. This is the party of identity politics.
The most amusing part of all this is that people seem to be mostly outraged by the idea that Biden picked Harris “because she was Black and female.” But as Parker points out, Joe Biden publicly promised to pick a woman VP before he selected her. This was not a secret.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden committed Sunday to picking a woman for his vice president if he were to win the party’s nomination.
Speaking during a CNN-hosted primary debate with fellow candidate Bernie Sanders, Biden said: “There are a number of women who would be qualified to be president,” and that he would choose a woman as his running mate.
It’s true that Biden didn’t commit to naming a black woman but he was pressured to do so.
In late April, more than 200 black women who are leaders and activists within the Democratic party signed an open letter to the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden calling on him to select a black woman as his running mate.
“It is a fact that the road to the White House is powered by Black women and Black women are the key to a Democratic victory in 2020,” they wrote.
And he did tease the fact that he was leaning in that direction. This is from July 2020:
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Monday he was considering four Black women to be his running mate, and has been receiving extensive vetting briefings about each potential candidate.
“I am not committed to naming any (of the potential candidates), but the people I’ve named, and among them there are four Black women,” Biden told MSNBC’s Joy Reid on “The ReidOut.”
So it’s a little late now for Democrats to complain it’s an outrageous slight to claim Harris was picked because she was black and a woman.
Anyway, there’s enough outrage over this column that I would not be surprised if the Washington Post was dealing with similar pushback internally from angry staffers. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time woke progressives in a newsroom had tried to get someone fired over an opinion.