Yes, Biden should have stuck to his promise of being a one term president but every time someone mentioned that in the last four years we were told we hated democracy but I feel like halfway down the drop at Splash Mountain is the wrong time to make that argument, NYT editorial board.
The missing piece of “Biden should not have run for a second term” is the Democrats should have spent the last four years creating a coherent line of succession for the next gen of candidates, which we’ve been waiting for since the Obama administration.
I don't get that at all. There are numerous good or interesting candidates (Beshear, Whitmer, Pritzker, Harris, Newsom) -- just none of them wanted to lose in a primary in 2024 running against an incumbent.
... Beshear was just elected to a second term last year. Why would he step away with three years left to his term? Why would anyone want that for Kentuckians?
What would you consider to be a clear line of succession? There are a bunch of popular governors and senators but I don't think that it's typical to have any kind line of succession aside from the VP.
It's a silly premise because the worst possible person would certainly have contributed to a loss in 2020. Everyone just glosses over that this team won a very important election. That's just a "given," anyone would have won it. Sure.
There was no other pick at the time. As the party that aspired towards greater racial and gender equality they were going to pick a POC woman to balance the ticket. It had to be someone who had held statewide elected office. So that left Harris and Duckworth. And Harris had been partially 1/2
vetted by a national primary. She is not a dazzling politician but the Biden administration should have been actively working to build her portfolio and leave her as a plausible alternative in the public's eye not just for the current situation but because Biden could have died or been incapacitated
I agree 1000%. I don't know if Dems were hoping someone would just emerge from the pack the way Obama did but they definitely should have been trying to up the profiles of governors or senators who could have been potential candidates.
They haven't even been neutral about it, they've been actively fighting off the next gen of candidates. I don't like mckinsey dance Pete, but if he was the guy they were gonna go for, they shouldn't have dumped him in transportation
Its baffling how unprepared they seem to be, considering that both Bidens age being a problem and another run by Trump (or someone similar like DeSantis) where completely forseeable four years ago.
I believe that after January 6 Democrats believed that Trump was dead in the water (and I think nearly half of GOP politicians did as well, until they heard from the base). Every overall Democratic party decision since at least November 2016 has been a defensive move.
That sounds nice but have they ever done that? When was the last time the Dem establishment tried to build up a young up-and-comer? When Obama was coming up the establishment backed Hillary. The Dems are a gerontocracy and backing a young person is anathema to them.
No, Alex, obviously they have not done that, which is why I am saying it’s a thing they should have been doing in the last for years since we’ve now reached the end of the tracks for the Boomers Are The Only True Democrats Express
Pet peeve of mine, I’m sorry, but Joe Biden never said he would be a one-term president. You will not find that quote anywhere. His awful campaign staff basically Inception’d that into ours brains by talking about it with press, who reported it as if it was real. It was a disgusting trick.
Yep. Imo, this further confirms that it was a deliberate trick.
Combining his staff getting the press to say it with these quotes that are CLEARLY referencing the same idea without ever actually saying it seems like a very carefully crafted way of making us all think that he committed to it.
Fascinating how "Biden promised to be a one-term president" isn't considered a lie despite him never making that promise, but a quote of him saying he views himself as a bridge between past and future Democratic leaders means he lied...somehow.
Yep. That’s the distinction I was trying to make. There were no minds or circumstances changed; it was always a lie, and one that only makes sense if they understand how bad of an idea it would be for him to run in this cycle. He and his campaign are scum.
Yeah I have people arguing “he never said that” and no he did not but he and his team did put that out there to assuage concerns about a 77 year old man running for president.
I don’t know the future of the Democratic Party was adequately groomed for their leadership roles. This was an issue with Obama and repeated under Biden. Were they expecting the demographic shift to do all the work? Well, here we are.
What is making me absolutely livid is that political pundits should know how massive and involved a presidential campaign is and that you absolutely cannot spin up a a new one with a new candidate in 4 months and expect to win.
