Looking Ahead So Soon
I was quite young when I first started paying attention to presidential politics…a kindergartener who knew it was Nixon against Humphrey in 1968. (Sort of explains a lot, I suppose.) I was a high school kid just starting in radio and writing newspaper articles when I started reporting on candidates, prior to the 1980 Iowa caucus.
I cannot think of a time when so many were looking at who would run instead of an incumbent…after only year one of the four year term. If a president is re-elected, then, sure…the jockeying for position immediately begins.
But we’ve only marked one quarter of the way through Joe Biden’s term…and instead of a report card on the first 12 months, many supposedly mainstream outlets began speculating on how quickly they could be done with him and move on to the next person.
A lot of that has to do with his age and declining faculties…but not many expected him to serve a full term, and presumed this was just a way to give Kamala Harris—a historically bad candidate when she ran, don’t forget—the air of incumbency in 2024. But she’s been such a disaster, that doesn’t seem to be the party’s answer.
The diehard Hillary Clinton fans are setting up more trial balloons than a Macy’s Thanksgiving parade in the desperate hope that she can gain the power she has long sought in 2024…but even the most diehard realize if she’s their party’s best chance…that’s a pretty weak bench.
Politics is a tough business, to be sure…and the party out of power of course contemplates who is next on their side…but this is quite a development, all the chatter on the left about who will succeed Biden…who again, has 75 percent of his first term to go.
