CAL THOMAS

For release: 07/23/24

Biden’s withdrawal doesn’t mean Harris automatically succeeds him

By Cal Thomas

Tribune Content Agency

What is amusing and simultaneously contributes to the cynicism some feel about politics is how many Democrats claimed until recently that President Biden was a different man in private than the mumbling, stumbling man everyone could hear and see in public. These include Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden apparently forgot to endorse in his withdrawal statement and then quickly tweeted his support of her as his successor. Harris should be asked about that contradiction and whether she lied about Biden’s fitness.

Biden and other Democrats have been saying former president Donald Trump would be “a threat to democracy” should he win another term, but how democratic is it to potentially deny the choice of Democrat voters who selected him as their party’s nominee should they decide to do so at their convention next month?

Biden and Trump traded accusations Sunday, each calling each other the worst president in history.

Speaker Mike Johnson previewed what could be the main campaign theme for the GOP against Harris should she be the nominee: “The party’s prospects are no better now with Vice President Kamala Harris, who co-owns the disastrous policy failures of the Biden administration. As second in command and a completely inept border czar, Harris has been a gleeful accomplice – not only in the destruction of American sovereignty, security, and prosperity, but also in the largest political coverup in U.S. history. She has known for as long as anyone of his incapacity to serve.” Johnson called on Biden to resign, but that is unlikely to happen, especially since it would give time for Harris to gain experience as president.

Harris may be the only person on the national political level capable of making Biden look articulate. Republicans are likely to create ads detailing her numerous nonsensical remarks. Just a few include: “It is time for us to be doing what we have been doing and that time is every day.” 

Or this one: “The governor and I, we were all doing a tour of the library here and talking about the significance of the passage of time, right, the significance of the passage of time. So, when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time in terms of what we need to do to lay these wires. What we need to do to create these jobs. And there is such great significance to the passage of time when we think about a day in the life of our children.” 

Beyond the likely mocking by Republicans are facts. Harris cannot separate herself from the record of the Biden-Harris administration. While Biden’s age has disappeared as an issue, their record has not. Harris’ level of incompetence can only follow his, if she wins the nomination. That is not a given.

The parallels between Biden’s withdrawal statement and that of Lyndon Johnson’s in 1968 are remarkably similar. Then, LBJ, whose approval ratings were also in decline, largely due to the Vietnam War and anti-war protests, claimed his withdrawal was for a higher purpose – peace. On Sunday, Biden listed what he considers his successes as president, as did LBJ. Among them was his repeated assertion that the economy was in ruins when he became president. Tell that to people who were paying less for just about everything four years ago when inflation was 1.4 percent, not the 9 percent Biden claims.

The raucous Democratic Convention (also in Chicago in 1968, as is this year’s gathering) would follow Johnson’s withdrawal with images of police beating protesters and discord on the convention floor. History might repeat. The party’s eventual nominee, Hubert Humphrey, lost to Richard Nixon in the fall election. Humphrey tried to separate himself somewhat from Johnson’s Vietnam policies, but failed because as part of the administration he was tied to those policies. Harris now faces a similar problem, or she can repeat previous falsehoods and hope Biden’s media enablers won’t expose them.

Could this unpredictable political season become even more volatile? Probably.

Readers may email Cal Thomas at [email protected]. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).

(C) 2024 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.