Jim Dey: Democrats have got to know Biden/Harris have to go
Jul. 6—The great Hank Williams wrote that lead lyric in his hit song "You Win Again." He was lamenting what "this heart of mine could never see, what everybody knew but me."
National Democrats know the feeling. They are living uncomfortably with a blinding glimpse of the obvious now that the cat that already was out of the bag is sitting on everyone's porch step.
Yes, President Joe Biden is physically and mentally frail, unfit to serve in his incredibly demanding job. Who knew? Almost everybody.
Getting old, confused and weak is not a character flaw, it's a reality. After all, no one gets out of here alive.
Biden is debilitated by his long bout (he's approaching 82) with Father Time. The president officially and accidentally outed himself for all the world to see with his sorry debate performance.
He came across as exactly what he is — a weak-voiced, confused, elderly man hanging on to power with bloody fingernails.
President Franklin Roosevelt was dying — but at least in command of his faculties — when he ran for his fourth term in 1944. Those around him lied to voters about his condition. But they still took action to protect the country, engineering the replacement of the dangerously naive Vice President Henry Wallace with then-U.S. Sen. Harry Truman of Missouri on the Democratic ticket.
Two questions come to mind in the aftermath of the debate fiasco — one relatively trivial, and the other hugely important.
What dumbbell — or was it a GOP double agent? — convinced Biden that he was up to a nationally televised debate? The guy can barely read off a teleprompter.
That's a question driving Biden's wife — Dr. Jill Biden — around the bend. She wants scalps, according to the online publication Politico.
"The blame was cast widely on staffers, including: Anita Dunn, the senior adviser who frequently has the president's ear; her husband, Bob Bauer, the president's attorney, who played Trump in rehearsals at Camp David; and Ron Klain, the former chief of staff who ran point on the debate prep and previous cycles' sessions," Politico reported.
That's inside baseball, interesting but of little consequence.
The other question is crucial — what are Democrats going to do about their Biden problem?
Out of deference to their own political interests as well as the national interest, they must come up with another team to replace Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden and his wife insist he won't get out of the race, that he is the only Democrat who can beat Trump, and there is no other Democrat capable of replacing Biden.
What nonsense. Those who like Democrats can find plenty of alternatives to replace their un-dynamic duo. Multiple senators and/or governors could ably carry the party banner into November.
Remember, public opinion polls indicate that voters dislike both Biden and Trump. Give them a viable, fresh-faced Democratic alternative — one boosted by a euphoric media — and see how fast they run from Trump.
Democrats have fretted publicly about their inability to engineer a ticket change given that Biden has all the committed delegates he needs to be renominated. Since when have these political cut-throats been so squeamish?
They've shown they'll do anything to deny Trump a second term. So why not invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Biden from office for the reason that he is unable to discharge his duties effectively?
After all, it's true. Isn't Biden's condition exactly what the 25th Amendment was intended to address?
The downside would be a President Harris, who is more unpopular than Biden. But how much damage could she do as an interim?
Politics is, to many, a spectator sport. But it's also serious business. The higher the office, the greater the stakes. Democratic power brokers must act.