Joe Biden’s candidacy splits Democrats as dissenting voices emerge on Capitol Hill
As sweltering conditions settled across the United States for the July Fourth holiday weekend, the Democratic electoral campaign all but splintered into two distinct factions.
Officially it was business as usual with president Joe Biden’s campaign to retain the White House, when he spoke at a Sunday morning church service in Philadelphia before heading on for an ice-cream invitation-only event in Harrisburg. Four years ago, Biden carried the state of Pennsylvania, but latest polling figures show that he now lags behind Donald Trump by three percentage points in the critical swing state. Meanwhile, the opinion that he must force himself to coldly evaluate his position continues to increase in volume. Even as the president prepared to speak from the pulpit in Philadelphia, California congressman Adam Schiff – a long-time ardent supporter – carefully presented the irreconcilability of the president’s glittering past record with the age predicament, which has, since his dismal debate performance, become a crisis for the Democratic Party.
“The performance on the debate state I think rightfully raised questions about whether the president has the vigour to defeat Donald Trump, and this is an existential race,” Schiff said on a Meet the Press television interview.
“Given Joe Biden’s incredible record, given Donald Trump’s terrible record: he should be mopping the floor with Donald Trump. Joe Biden is running against a criminal. It should not be even close. And there is only one reason it is close. And that is the president’s age.”
[ It is time for Joe Biden to stand aside, but who has the courage to tell him? ]
He urged his president to go beyond the immediate counsel of family and campaign leaders and to “seek out people with some distance and objectivity. He should seek out pollsters who are not his own pollsters. He should take a moment to make the best judgment and if the judgment is run, then run hard and beat that S.O.B.”
Schiff’s comments were in line with those of other prominent Democrats in that their nuance and suggestion fell short of an explicit call to step down but distilled the extraordinary dilemma that has seized the party. Connecticut senator Chris Murphy, also speaking on Sunday, admitted that the week ahead will be “absolutely critical”.
“I think the president needs to do more,” Murphy said, suggesting that Mr Biden “do a town hall, do a press conference – show the country he is still the old Joe Biden.”
Even as Biden hosts world leaders, his on-going candidacy will dominate conversations in the corridors of Capitol Hill
The human tragedy about it all is that Biden is valiantly trying to show just that. There is, for his colleagues, something poignant and frustrating about the blind faith and flashes of anger with which he continues to reject the dissenting opinions. His CBS interview with George Stephanopoulos, broadcast on Friday night, succeeded in further muddying the waters on whether he has the requisite physical and mental stamina to endure the rigours of the campaign ahead. Biden’s key remark – that he will have no regrets about the outcome of the November election as long as he knows he “did as good a job as possible” – deepened the sense of internal alarm and sharpened the idea that Biden is locked into a personal and possibly delusional crusade.
“That was the answer that most concerned me as well,” Schiff said. “This is not just about whether he gave it the best try but rather whether he made the right decision to run or to pass the torch. That is the most important decision for him to make right now. This is about whether or not this country remains a democracy or whether we veer off into some kind of pseudo dictatorship. Everything is riding on this.”
Next week in Washington will be dominated by a National Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) summit on the diplomatic front but even as Biden hosts world leaders, his ongoing candidacy will dominate conversations in the corridors of Capitol Hill.
On Saturday, vice-president Kamala Harris was in New Orleans, where she made an appearance in front of a live audience for Essence magazine. Harris has been adamant in her public declaration that president Biden will be running and appeared with him on the White House balcony to watch the fireworks display over the National Mall on July 4th. But around her, Democratic supporters have begun to speak of Harris as the most likely nominee should president Biden call time on himself. And when the vice-president was asked, in the opening minute of the conversation the simple and direct question – who is Kamala Harris? – she gave an answer that could easily be fashioned into an electoral persona.
“The vice-president of the United States, in case you didn’t know. And I am a wife, we have children, I am a god mommy, I am an auntie, I am a best friend, I am a good cook. And I am a fighter for the people. I care about the people. I am a child of parents who met when they were active in the Civil Rights movement marching and fighting for justice. I grew up in a community an extended family who told all of us that we were young, gifted, and black; that we could do anything, that there was no boundary or border to what we could do or believe and that it was a duty to give back to your community. ”
After years in the doldrums of critical and public opinion, Harris has begun to find her voice and relay an appealing message even as her president falters.
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