It Wasn’t Supposed To Be Like This
No one, including a then-more-lucid Joe Biden, expected him to be president right now, much less run for a second term.
The plan all along was that Joe was the more mainstream option who could stop Bernie Sanders from sweeping the 2020 Democrat primary field. Remember how all the others folded their tents before Super Tuesday so there would only be a single opponent to Bernie on the ballot? Then the plan was that Kamala Harris would be vice president and take over for Joe at some point during the term. Many of us figured it would be on January 20, 2024…one year from inauguration day…when Joe would retire and hand the reins to his competent second-in-command, giving her a massive leg-up in running for a full term in her own right.
Joe stops Bernie, Joe stops Trump, Joe gets to hand off to the first woman president. Talk about a crowning legacy.
But a funny thing happened on the way to that plan…actually, a number of things, and none very funny.
Harris has been inept at every turn. We in Iowa saw what a woeful, disconnected campaign for president she ran. Now the world has seen it in her performance—or lack of performance—as vice president. So Joe couldn’t very well hand off to her in the middle of a term.
The plan also underestimated Biden’s hatred of Trump. I still believe if Trump would have passed on the 2024 race, Biden would have gracefully retired. But Biden sees himself as the only person who can beat Trump, and no one is going to pry his fingers loose from the nomination.
Some, including our friend Todd Starnes, believe the First Lady’s desire for the “good life” is behind keeping Joe in office…even to the point of committing elder abuse. And let’s face it, if you are the president, why would you ever voluntarily give it up…especially when it was the prize you sought your entire life?
Or the poor man is just being led around—sometimes literally—and isn’t making any decisions really.
Bottom line is that the Democrats have quite a quandary…and no easy way out of it. After all, they had a plan.
