11 Comments
Jul 4Liked by Joe Klein

One of the proudest days of my life was when Joe Biden was declared winner of the 2020 election. He has done an admirable job in the four years since. But does he want his legacy to be that he lost to one of the least qualified candidates in history? I think the president and his staff need to do some serious soul-searching in the next few days.

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No way! I’m tired of dems annointing themselves. Let Biden back out and throw it open; let the people decide.

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Oh, please no. The only thing worse than Biden staying on is Kamala being "anointed" as his successor, then getting blown out in November, taking the Senate, House & next 4 years of the Court with her/us. Haven't we learned ANYTHING in the 5 years she's been on the national stage? She has no consistency, no fanbase, her staffers don't like her, and she withers under criticism. As if the Democrats haven't messed this up enough!

She can go through a 7-week quasi-primary with other candidates - perhaps some of the governors gathering in Washington as we speak - and if she somehow comes off as the favorite to beat Trump, so be it. But it's not her "time" and it never was.

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Yeah, agree. That was my point, except for the "never was" part...Let's not rush to judgment, let's rush to a contest for the nomination.

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And I recognize that you've said as much, so thank you. But I'm seeing far too many "it's her turn" stories the last 48 hours, and I'm getting horrible Hillary-losing-in-2016 vibes. Earn it first.

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Agree that the worst reasons to go the “Kamala” route is the “her turn” argument - I can imagine a world in which every identity-triumphalist op-Ed in the Times costs her another 30k votes. But as VP she”s been -fine, small praise I know. But Joe himself was a lowest-common -denomitor acceptable choice for Trump haters in 2020 and Kamala can be that in 2024. Don’t get me wrong, I still favor a “choose your own adventure” national primary, but if the Kamala option is what gets Biden to stand down, I’m all for it.

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The only thing worse than the party bloodletting as the Dem woke wing/activists/it’s her turn crowd raise hell - is Biden staying in it. The good old Democratic party. But that’s where we are.

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"I am a Democrat by default. I can’t be a Republican because of Donald Trump. Donald Trump insults my intelligence"

I hear you but I'd submit there are plenty of reasons in our life time to be a Democrat by default than 45 & his cult given the binary choices we have. 45 is a just a cruder and off the rails version of what came before...

Nixon's Southern strategy, Reagan's trickle down & other sins and both 41 Bush and 43 Bush playing the same fear and division cards.

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Agree...But I have other reasons for being a very reluctant Democrat--identity politics, economic determinism, clumsy attempts at social engineering. I could go on, but it's too depressing.

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His son, Hunter, prays he makes through the next five years, does that count?

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Not even a little bit.

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