A Busy Time for Democrats

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By David Mark Greaves
I do not envy Jeffries and the hard decisions he has to make. However, it is the 4,000 delegates who are pledged to Joe Biden that actually make the nomination. And while they are instructed to vote in “good conscience” to back Biden since he won the Democratic presidential primaries this year, they don’t have to. And reporting shows that a lot of the action is happening around the country in the homes of the those Biden delegates.
There was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, leaving him bloodied and defiant, a leader willing to face death for his followers.

My son David, who lives in Phoenix, said, “Now he’s definitely going to win.”
We were at a fishing campground on Walpole Island, a First Nation area in Canada, sitting at an outdoor table with several conversations going on. We were talking politics and agreed Vice President Kamala Harris had to head a new ticket with the VP of her choice.
He thought my suggestion of Mark Kelly, the senator from his state, was way off base. “Kelly isn’t liked and he has business issues,” plus he only won because his opposition, Kari Lake, was “Batshit crazy.”

This, of course, is just campground talk. The real business is in Washington, where Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, is working like a cook over a hot stove to save this ship of state from heading into low water.

The reports are that Jeffries has been having endless meetings, including one with the President, trying to find a way out of a room with one door and President Biden has the only key: Stepping down and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris recognizing she’s the best positioned to build on the foundation he’s laid.

Unfortunately, Biden’s ego will not allow him to accept the reality of his probable loss, and short of doing a McConnell freeze at an event, or as David said, “a video leaking of him stumbling,” he’s not going to step aside.

Politico.com had a conversation with Elaine Kamarck, a longtime member of the DNC’s rules committee, who explained that “The reason people tear their hair out is that people don’t realize that the business of nominating a presidential candidate is ultimately party business. And the party decides.”
They have rules for all contingencies involving replacing the nominee, even after the convention.
“We’ve been doing this for a long, long time. It’s not a legal process, it’s a party rules process. So if Biden decided to drop out after the convention, the chairman of the Democratic Party would call the Democratic National Committee into session. The 400-plus members of the DNC would come to Washington or Chicago or somewhere, and they would vote for a new nominee. Would there be a lot of politicking about that? Probably. Or maybe they would just say, “It’s easier and safer to nominate the vice president.” The DNC, though, has the legal authority to do that.”

Kamarck does not foresee a contested election, particularly if Biden endorses Harris, which polling of delegates shows would be the most popular choice. Plus, being the candidate who contest the first Black woman vice president would be a career killer with two main blocs of voters.

“I think that if he wants to get out, he should do it soon and let the party come together around Vice President Harris or perhaps somebody else, and do it in time for there to be a good convention,” she says.

So while forces seen and unseen, are doing all they can to convince Biden to step aside and endorse Harris allowing an excited rather than dejected party convention, and with Trump now inspiring even more cultlike devotion and energized supporter, many of the delegates polled who believe that with democracy on the line, people will vote for Biden and he’ll probably win. I agree with them for a large number of people, however, as the song goes, “It ain’t necessarily so.” And it’s the probable part that gives me pause.

Many will think of how he’ll be in three years or even six months. And with an election so close, why not remove the age component and reduce the downside risk which includes having Judge Aileen Cannon on the Supreme Court for the next 40 years.
The world awaits.

(Updated July 25, 2024)