It’s déjà vu all over again: Biden or bust.
We Democrats have been here before – with “Hillary or bust” – and it turned out badly for our party and for the country. In 2016, the women’s political networks and D.C. Democratic Party establishment made it clear that any campaign consultant or party insider who spoke poorly of the Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign would be ostracized – if not fully blackballed.
“Bernie Bros” was a stigma attached to anyone not fully in Hillary’s corner. Clinton surrounded herself with sycophants who nervously guarded their turf. Her campaign manager had at best a mixed bag of professional success, and his hubris clearly exceeded his talent. So they gave us Donald Trump and the next eight years of chaos and cringing.
I’ve been a Washington-based national Democratic Party media consultant for more than three decades. In that time I’ve learned that it’s much easier to succeed and enrich when toeing the party line. The establishment, led by a small cadre of insiders at the very top, dictates the way things are going to be – period. I’ve been alternately on the inside and blackballed, then back again. My health, family, and banker will attest that it’s much easier following directions than making waves.
That’s one reason that hardly any national-level Democratic consultants and elected officials are calling for President Biden to mitigate the risk of a Trump victory by stepping down. My email and texts blew up about 10 minutes into last week’s presidential debate. I don’t know a national consultant not working for Biden who hasn’t privately stated that he needs to pass his successful baton to the next generation. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she would not ask for him to step aside, but it’s actually her example – making way for a new, younger, and more vibrant party leader – that should guide the White House.
And with a Supreme Court some consider at best political and at worse corrupt clearly showing Monday that it will apply no guardrails to a second Trump presidency, the stakes are not worth the risk for any one family’s pride – even the first family. The high court’s ruling coupled with the debate debacle has lit the fuse of dynamite.
If Thursday night’s debate had been a prize fight, it would have been called in the second round. Trump spewed the usual slew of half-truths and no truths. He’s long since learned that if he says the same thing repeatedly, it will be picked up in the conservative echo chamber and become group-think. MAGA will take any stand for him regardless of how clearly absurd. And it was demoralizing for us who have fought Trumpism daily and want someone to land a blow. Biden couldn’t jab or even swing.
And that’s driven us on the left crazy. Don’t our MAGA friends and relatives see what a dangerous and outrageous con man he is? Can’t you see it?! we implore. Post-debate we’ve lost credibility as the whole world saw how enfeebled our president has become, yet our leaders turn their heads to the obvious.
We Democrats desperately need someone to stand up to Trump and call his lies just that. Biden simply could not defend himself and had no ability to pivot or counter. Trump’s low blows and kidney punches would have been effectively countered by any one of a half-dozen talented Democratic elected officials if they had only been on that stage instead of our diminished 81-year-old party leader.
One reason none of my peers have written this op-ed is they don’t want to give MAGA ammunition or create any fundraising speed bump, regardless of how small. Only James Carville, who has already made his money and fame, spoke up. Word was sent around D.C. that Team Biden was very perturbed by Carville’s candor.
Democrats defending Biden say the focus should be on the past three and a half years of success and not on one bad night. That’s fine, as far as sound bites go, but the men and women repeating it know that elections are about the future. Americans are deciding who guides the country through perilous times globally. Nearly three-fourths of U.S. voters don’t think Biden is mentally capable of doing the job, and some 56% of Democrats believe he is too old to be an effective president.
Everyone ages differently. But age wins in the end. It’s not prudence, not disregard for Biden and his family, to point this out. Those of us who have spent decades in political foxholes fighting for what we collectively believe as Democrats mean no disrespect in begging the president and first lady to make the tough decision and exit the national stage.
Indeed, our enormous appreciation for the president and his admirable decades of public service is what leads us to call for him to step aside and preserve his legacy. Please Biden family – please. The stakes are too high for a gamble. Our party, our children, and the soul of the nation are on the line.
