Memo to my Democrat friends:
You do know you’re in big trouble, right? I mean, the “Joe thing.” Even if you believe every bit of the nonsense you profess to believe, you know that Joe Biden isn’t exactly your best messenger. At what point do you throw the guy overboard and look for a viable 2024 alternative? We hope you don’t, of course.
Irrespective of the current state of gutter politics on both sides of the political chasm — and if you disagree that it exists on both sides of the aisle, you’re part of the problem — the left’s nonsensical support of Joe Biden is unequaled in modern times.
That said, with less than a year to go before the 2024 presidential election, the reality for Democrats is that the mere thought of Joe Biden as their standard-bearer strikes fears into the hearts of our leftist pals across the fruited plain. They won’t admit it, of course — leftists never admit reality — but we know they’re scared as hell.
This brings us to a Sunday article in The Washington Post titled “Biden campaign works to ease Democratic anxiety over reelection chances,” which, inexplicably, laid bare the concerns of rank-and-file Democrats about 81-year-old Joe Biden.
WaPo spoke with 30 Democrats, from elected party officials to strategists to aides, members of the Biden administration, campaign officials, donors, and beyond. Their responses were raw and honest, in my belief, and, to a person, most of them were damn near hopeless.
Check it out, via WaPo:
Over the last full weekend of September, Hollywood titan Ari Emanuel — brother of former Chicago mayor and current Japan Ambassador Rahm Emanuel — co-hosted his annual, off-the-record power conference, gathering fellow luminaries of entertainment, finance, politics and technology in sun-dappled Aspen, Colo.
At one point, during a political panel that included Ron Klain, President Biden’s former chief of staff, an audience member worried aloud that the Democratic Party had a serious problem. Biden is too old and could lose the election, this person fretted, before asking the question that has been disquieting Democratic circles for more than a year: What is the backup plan?
Klain’s rebuttal was swift, recalled one attendee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share candid details of the private event. The president is the party’s nominee, Klain said, and a strong nominee at that. There is no backup plan.
“There is no backup plan.” Let’s think that through.
I doubt there’s anyone on the planet with a modicum of understanding of Joe Biden’s mental state who doesn’t find that statement at least a bit disconcerting — on either side. I mean, the guy regularly loses fights with his teleprompter, aimlessly wanders around the stage after he’s finished mumbling his pablum, continually repeats lies, and more.
Irrespective of Biden’s age, his administration continues to be woefully unable to sell his so-called “accomplishments” to voters.
Here’s more:
The central concern is that Biden, who turns 81 on Monday, has lost a step and is showing visible signs of aging. He has struggled to sell his economic accomplishments. And there are worries that his campaign, so far devoid of major events or organizing efforts, is not doing enough to deal with the public hand-wringing over his chances or the coming threat of Trump, 77.
The unease is evident across the party: administration officials, elected officials, major donors — including those who have already given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Biden and his team — top strategists and campaign officials closely allied or working with the reelection effort.
The ridiculous part, of course, is that Team Biden continues to desperately try to dismiss concern about the addled president as much ado about nothing. Uh-huh — nothing could be further from the truth.
The vacant guy appears to have no moral compass, publicly admits he’s handled, and — other than silliness — generally doesn’t appear to have a cogent thought in his head. And this is the Democrats’ probable 2024 standard-bearer? God, help them — and us.
Yet, many Democrats are just resigned to the belief that it’s gonna be Joe. Dmitri Mehlhorn, a Democratic strategist and major party fundraiser, told WaPo:
Joe Biden is not a perfect person — no such person exists — and he has strengths and weaknesses as a candidate, to be sure, but he will be the Democratic Party’s nominee. Joe Biden is going to be the nominee, and he is the best bet to beat Donald Trump and people have to help us make that happen because the alternative is Donald Trump, and is a catastrophe for American democracy.
What a sad statement that in 2023 America — a country of some 334 million people — that so many people have resigned themselves to the false belief that the only choice we have in 2024 is between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
So What About Democrat Donors?
Ah, the money. Well-heeled Democrat donors are hardly comfortable with the prospect of Joe Biden as the party’s 2024 nominee, either. One Democrat Pary fundraiser told WaPo:
The bad news is that everybody is wetting the bed inside of Biden world. It’s really an unhappy confluence of Biden world donors’ cocktail party friends saying, ‘Can’t you get him not to run?’ — which is stupid and absurd if you know Joe Biden.
How fun.
The Bottom Line
To be sure, Biden doesn’t own stupid. Neither does the Democrat Party.
Still, it’s somewhat reassuring — or at least semi-comforting — to know that the Democrats have their own issues, with the 2024 presidential election less than a year away, right?
