For Kamala, The Phrase “Heir Apparent” Becomes Absolutely Crucial

The consensus among Democratic Party leaders is that Biden needs to bow out gracefully and help— again gracefully— guide the party into accepting as apparent the woman he alone put in place as heir. The feeling is that the party can’t handle more chaos, divisiveness and uncertainty and that no one is better prepared to successfully take on Trump anyway. All my friends in Europe say “What about Bernie?” But, alas, that’s not a question being taken seriously in the U.S. There’s only certain loss with Biden, or the lady behind Door # 1. All that remains is the timing and the drama over her running mate.

Carl Hulse placed Pelosi at the the center of the solution to the party’s Biden problem. “Pelosi,” he wrote, “is all about winning. Regarded by many as her party’s most ruthless tactician, she fought her way to the top of the Democratic leadership in the House, won the majority not once but twice and retained her speakership by putting down a rebellion from younger Democrats demanding she pass the torch to a new generation. And the former speaker is in no mood to start losing now, as evidence mounts that President Biden is staring at a major defeat that could drag his party down with him. In private conversations with Biden, colleagues and allies, Pelosi, the Californian who still wields tremendous influence in her party and is seen by many as key to resolving the status of Biden’s candidacy, has let it be known in the days since his disastrous debate performance that she is skeptical that the president can win. And his loss, she fears, could cost her party its chance to win back the House, potentially its only firewall against a second Trump presidency… The declarations made public over the past two days that President Biden should step aside or seriously consider doing so, by two leading House Democrats known to be close to Pelosi— Representatives Adam Schiff of California and Jamie Raskin of Maryland— only intensified the focus on Pelosi’s behind-the-scenes activities, though it was unclear what role she played if any in the timing of their public statements.”

It was 2 weeks ago that Raskin wrote this letter to Biden, a letter just leaked out as “news” yesterday:

Raskin admires and respects Pelosi. He’s also Congress’ most admired and brilliant constitutional scholar and he doesn’t need anyone to tell him what needs to be done. Other Biden allies have also been dropping away. Biden, who, ironically, got his start in politics as an ally of racists Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond is their rearguard action to derail integration, has counted on Black Democrats to have his back. Al Sharpton’s call to the White House on Monday to urge Biden to end his bid for a second term was a crack in that damn. “Sharpton,” reported Reid Epstein, “said Biden was ‘shook up’ about reports that Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the former House speaker, was maneuvering to put pressure on the president to quit the race. Sharpton said he did not explicitly urge Biden to quit the race but warned him of the consequences of remaining in. ‘He could walk away with one of the greatest legacies in American history from some of the things he’s done and I don’t think that ought to be marred in any way,’ Sharpton said. ‘He must make sure he doesn’t mar it in any way by risking it and being emotional and doing something that leads to a defeat.’”

Sounds like everything is coming along smoothly and on the right track now? Not so fast. A quartet of top NBC News reporters wrote last night that “Biden feels personally hurt and betrayed by the way so many Democrats, including some of the party’s top leaders, have left him hung out to dry as he faces the biggest crisis of his political career.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah… We all get old. It’s part of life and it’s healthy to accept it and move on— with grace. Yesterday I spent the day with two old friends, one of whom I hadn’t seen in almost 50 years and the other not in around 30 years. Two of us are in our 70s and one in her 80s. We’re all living active, vibrant lives, changed lives, but satisfying lives, aware of those changes and limitations, but not denying them. Biden better wake up. He’s not just endangering a puffed up vision of his “legacy.” He's endangering the whole country and the whole world. “The sources,” wrote Mike Memo, Ali Vitali, Julie Tsirkin and Shail Kapur, “said Biden feels angry at how the party has tried to push him out. A source close to Biden criticized senior Democratic leaders for ‘[giving] us Donald Trump. Can we all just remember for a minute that these same people who are trying to push Joe Biden out are the same people who literally gave us all Donald Trump? In 2015, Obama, Pelosi, Schumer pushed Biden aside in favor of Hillary; they were wrong then, and they are wrong now,’ the source told NBC News… ‘How did all this work out for everyone in 2016? Perhaps we should learn a few lessons from 2016; one of them is polls are BS, just ask Secretary Clinton. And two, maybe, just maybe, Joe Biden is more in touch with actual Americans than Obama-Pelosi-Schumer?’ the source added in unusually blunt language that represents the views of those closest to Biden.”

Biden was the wrong choice then, the wrong choice every time he ran— and no one wanted to push him aside; they wanted to block Democratic Socialism (ie— Bernie) and thought Hillary would be the best one to do that, not a weak nor a basically unpopular Biden.

Though scattered across the country during congressional recess, Democrats are coalescing around the idea that it’s not a matter of if Joe Biden steps down as their nominee, but when, according to multiple sources who’ve shared the sentiment.

“We are preparing,” one Democratic member said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

A Democratic strategist said many in the party are growing impatient with the vacuum and are eager for the intraparty fight to end, a sentiment echoed by Hill lawmakers since the debate.

“I just want a decision,” the strategist said.

Some fear the squabbling is drowning out their message against Trump.

“We gotta have this settled sooner than later because I want to campaign. We have the better candidates, the fundraising momentum and the issues on our side— so let’s get to it,” the strategist added. “The sooner we get this behind us, the sooner we can get back to the campaigning and focus on winning.”

It has also sparked a peculiar set of dynamics for Democrats across the ideological spectrum. Those in battleground states and districts are reluctant to break with Biden for fear of alienating his loyal supporters. Progressives are successfully seizing the moment to push Biden to embrace some of their policy ideas— like expanding Social Security, nixing medical debt and slapping term limits and ethics rules on the Supreme Court.

The series of leaks Wednesday night about Biden’s private discussions with congressional leaders, as well as reporting from NBC News on Thursday afternoon that Biden-world is bracing for the possibility that he will step aside, did not go unnoticed by lawmakers— and ratcheted up an already intense situation in the party. Several in the party have pointed to Pelosi as someone who has moved the process along behind the scenes.

“This had to be handled very delicately, and I think Pelosi has done a masterful job as a tactician,” a Democratic official said. “Like could this all have been sped up a week? Sure. But Pelosi made clear with her nonanswers where she was going, and it did take time to see more polling and the subsequent appearances.”

A House Democratic lawmaker said that Pelosi “has the force within the party. If she were to say (drop out) and he didn’t agree, if she were to go public, then that would be tremendously damaging.”

Some Democrats have opted to keep their powder dry on a statement asking Biden to drop out because they don’t think it would make a difference. Others see it as unnecessary at this point.

“I believe [the dam] is breaking now for him to get out,” another Democratic member said. “Members may be feeling that there is no need to pile on at this point.”