Democratic Party Campaign Stymied in Joe Biden’s Fitness Controversy
Joseph Biden, the 46th president of the United States, had promised while campaigning in March 2020 that he’d be a “transitional” President, and not run again “if health became an issue”
Those were his words campaigning in 2020. His supporters believed that would not be an issue. Now, the same Joe Biden declared, “Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running…no one’s pushing me out. I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win.” The politician Joe Biden is now validating the age-old belief that power has its own irresistible lust.
Following Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance on 28 June 2024 against Donald Trump, a sizable number of Democratic supporters began airing their disgust at the Democratic National Committee. They alleged the party “railroaded them into voting for Biden in the primary,” with no other viable candidates when they knew full well he was in cognitive decline.
However, ever since Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, 2021, writings had already started appearing on the wall. His approval ratings never exceeded 30s. He was unpopular with a chunk of Democrats and Generals who believed in reconstruction of Afghanistan that was well underway. Biden endorsed and continued Trump’s policy of pulling the plug on Afghanistan. Earlier, his reputation as Barack Obama’s Vice President had been soiled because of his son’s lucrative consultancy jobs in places like China and Ukraine. Polls after polls were suggesting the voters didn’t like him going into his second term as President.
Early this year when a prosecutor called him an “elderly man with a poor memory,” a red flag should have gone up for Democrats. The party’s rank and file should have intervened to find Biden’s replacement. They seemed to overlook or ignore. They didn’t prepare for the storm that was waiting to hit; instead, endorsed his ‘coronation’ for the second term knowing his fitness was in decline.
Now, having surrounded himself by people on his payroll and vested interests, including his family, Joe Biden insisted on performing two “all-consuming jobs — serving as president and running for president.” His attachment to power and prominence was obvious.
The Democratic party should have taken lessons from the just concluded national General Election in India where the elites of the ruling party headed by the Prime Minister had concentrated all powers, distancing themselves from the average party cadre and voters. Disappointment among supporters cost once a popular PM substantial reduction in parliamentary seats.
Now, in the face of mounting demand, if Joe Biden decided to stand aside, he would propose his Vice President, Kamala Harris’s name as the party’s nominee. According to the party rules or norms, that should be the only next step. Joe Biden wouldn’t be that generous to leave the question of nomination to an open party Convention; he would fight to establish his legacy. Chances were Kamala Harris’s nomination by Joe Biden wouldn’t be acceptable either to the party members or to many party elites, primarily on the question of her ‘winnability.’ For fear of a dog-fight, the Democrats might like to avoid a change of guard and go ahead with what had been decided.
In the meantime, Joe Biden took one more step to let his resolution of continuing to stay in the race known to the public. In a letter to his party Congress members, he concluded by saying:
“The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump. We have 42 days to the Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election. Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It is time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump.”
Up until then, such Democratic party elites as Congressman James Clyburn, members of the Black Caucus, the House leader, Hakeem Jeffrey, the former speaker, Nancy Pelosi or Senate leader, Chuck Schumer had formed a protective ring around the candidacy of Joe Biden. Nancy Pelosi has now indicated there’s a breach in that shield. She said Joe Biden might reconsider staying in the race. The rising number of Democratic Congress members were now joined by donors and Hollywood stars in persuading Joe Biden to withdraw.
Election Results of India, UK and France
The campaign for the November 2024 US election would intensify only after the Conventions of the two parties: Republicans (Milwaukee: July 15 to 18, 2024) and Democrats (Chicago: August 19 to 22, 2024). However, keen observers began to look at the election results of India, France and UK where anti-incumbency sentiments were strong: the two-term incumbent Prime Minister of India was denied a majority of his own party; he had to depend on the coalition. One rule of electoral democracy in these countries seemed to be emerging: that no matter how dear you were, if you had been there for long, you must go. Even if voters didn’t disagree with your policies and performance, they wanted to see a change of guard. Just as the voters in the UK became tired of a series of Conservative PMs recently, they had developed the same fatigue after a string of Labour PMs, including Tony Blair. Macron’s electoral somersault in France appeared to be incomprehensible: He had coined the term, “Islamo-Left,” to combat the Left who he considered was responsible for immigration, rise of Islamic terrorism or urban riots.
Denial of the majority parliamentary seats belonging to the Indian PM’s ruling party happened for a different reason: His own support base became complacent, lackadaisical and sat at home. They took their own victory for granted because of the hyped up popularity of their leader, Narendra Modi. But a sizable chunk of Hindu voters were not satisfied with their two-term incumbent PM as he didn’t fulfill their agenda as vigorously as they wanted. Secondly, at the cost of the party regulars, the ruling party gave an overwhelming number of tickets to the party crossovers.
The American political system is better because of its two-term limitation on gubernatorial and presidential appointments. There’s a strong demand that it must be applicable to the elected members of the Legislature as well.
Following Joe Biden’s embarrassing first debate performance, his campaign officials tried to shore up his image by pointing to the upcoming conference of NATO member countries. They claimed Joe Biden’s grip on US foreign policy along with his mental acuity would be confirmed at the meeting. The Democratic party supporters would have no doubt about the candidacy of Joe Biden thereafter on Joe Biden’s candidacy thereafter.
It was, however, clear on 11 July 2024 after the much hyped solo unscripted press interview of President Biden that the fears of many of his supporters couldn’t be allayed. On the contrary, the number of doubters kept growing. If one had to test Joe Biden’s grasp on foreign policy issues — the only desirable focus at this NATO-centered press conference — he couldn’t be faulted. However, the two clips where Biden was seen and heard pronouncing Putin for Zelensky and Vice President Trump for Kamala Harris, were enough to prove the broader point that Biden was not in the best of his fitness. And, it may be appreciated that it was absolutely no fault of his. This came with age when you had memory lapses, you confused names or sometimes certain terminologies didn’t come to your mind at all. What was noteworthy and perhaps objectionable was the stubbornness with which Team Biden and the family held the ground that he was fit to be the president in his second term that would commence, if won, from Jan 2025 and go on for four years. If he had thought through as a statesman, he should have convinced himself that all his supporters were mounting a battle against a mighty challenger, Donald Trump. Considering his physical fitness, Joe Biden was possibly not the best captain to lead the Democratic ticket.
American voters had a right to assert that the USA wasn’t a country like Zimbabwe or Iran where President Mugabe or Ayatollah Khomeini could go on holding their positions until their last stages. A vibrant political party had to produce a sprightly, vigorous and untiring leadership from its ranks.
Postscript: At the time of submission of this article on 13 July 2024, Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania. In view of his likely boost in popularity, the Democrats might decide to close their ranks and rally behind Joe Biden.
[Originally from Darbhanga, Bihar (India), Dr Binoy Shanker Prasad lives in Dundas, Ontario (Canada). He is a former UGC teacher fellow at JNU in India and a Fulbright Scholar in the USA. Author of scholarly works including a book, “Violence Against Minorities”, “Gandhi in the Age of Globalization” (a monograph) and a collection of poems”, Dr Prasad has taught at Ryerson University, Centennial College and McMaster University. He has also been the president of Hamilton based India-Canada Society (2006-08 and 2018-20)]
