It’s Time. Biden Needs to Say to Harris, “It’s Your Turn Now.”
It is unlikely Biden will step down
as the candidate. But it is undeniable that better candidates exist and that if it
is critical Trump be defeated, Democrats must field the very best possible
candidate. There is a long list of Democrats who could do the job and beat
Trump handily. In my view, Kamala Harris has grown in office to such a degree
and is so effective on what should be the essential issues of this race—like
defending the basic freedoms of women that are under assault from the MAGA
right—that she is the natural candidate. No one would better carry forward the
Biden legacy. And stepping away from her would be hugely and dangerously
divisive—a battle the party can ill afford for all the reasons cited above. (Whether Biden stays or goes, Harris must have a much larger
and more central role in the campaign than many envisioned. She is its
strongest asset.)
Indeed, a Harris-Whitmer ticket,
two women, two proven leaders, two voices of a new generation in American
politics, two people with links to vital aspects of the coalition that can
deliver a big electoral victory for Democrats, would be immensely powerful. It
would win, and that victory would assure the continuity of the work of the
current administration and that the election held this November will not be the
last in U.S. history.
But such debates are not for the
idle speculation of columns like this one. Rather, in the wake of last night’s
debate, it is essential that Democrats begin by acknowledging they have a
problem. Next, a deeply serious discussion about whether Biden is the candidate
must take place. If a change can be made at the top of the ticket, then do not
hesitate to make it. The clock is ticking. And if that is not a possibility,
then find a solution that recognizes Biden’s limitations. That could mean
running not behind one man but as a movement, as the Democratic Party, as a
coherent team of people with a clear vision for the future, a stake in that
future and the ability to frame the peril posed by Trump for what it is.
