What does a BIDEN Presidency look like?

[Razgovory]

When I voted for Biden I was under the impression he was going to be a one termer.  I was disappointed when he decided he would run again.

[Barrister]

What was devastating was Joe Biden's other decision: to run again in 2024.

If Harris had earned the nomination in a full open Primary she would have been strong enough to win the election. Or whomever did so.

Ultimately that decision is what made Joe Biden's presidency a failed one. He said he was going to be the bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders. Now we just have to hope there is another generation of Democratic leaders.

Who exactly would be the front-runners for 2028 anyways?

I guess you can't count out Harris - the taboo of former losers running again (other than Nixon) seems to have been broken by Trump.

People will want to say Pete Buttigieg - but former Secretary of Transportation is a shockingly unusual resume to be President.

Gavin Newsome?  HIs record in California seems to be mixed.  No real opinion on his political skills.

AOC maybe?  I do think she's matured a lot in office.  But again - she's only a congresswoman.

[Neil]

Dan Quayle's problem is he was just so damn young.  Going back - he was 41 at the time he was nominated for Vice President in 1988.  He was a two-term senator from smallish Indiana.  So the mage of him being a dunce was set in the public mind really early.

I wasn't a fan of the Harris pick.  It was clear she was a "DEI" pick, chosen because of her race and gender.  That being said her resume was fairly impressive as former AG for California and 1st time senator from that state.

She was not put in a position to succeed as VP (I mean - she was put in charge of tacking the "root causes" of illegal immigration).

So I don't think she was a "shockingly bad" VP pick.  In a Democratic Party that was dominated by calls for inclusivity, she balanced Joe Biden (who was an old, white man) by being a younger (50s) black woman.  She was an average/mediocre political talent (as seen by winning her senate seat, but flaming out early in 2020 primaries).

Really she was a defensible pick in 2020 but showed Biden was never looking to the future and never really considered he was picking his potential successor.

The problem with Harris was how badly she performed in the Democratic primary.  She was pretty roundly rejected by a national voter base, and made to look like an idiot by Tulsi Gabbard of all people.  If Biden wasn't so old and shaky, it might not have mattered so much. 

You're right that the Biden Administration could have done more to create the illusion that she had some useful role in the government, but the real problem is that nobody in the administration cared about what she had to say about anything.  Look at the other VPs of recent years (barring Quayle).  All of them had political sway and constituencies of their own within the Party.  People who the pick was supposed to appeal to didn't take their lead from Harris.  They picked Sanders, Warren or even Buttigieg.

[Norgy]

The optics of the pardon do not look great, simply because Biden was insistent that he would not.

Hunter Biden's crimes aren't exactly at Tony Soprano level, but watering down the judicial system is never a good thing. I would expect more of this to happen in the next four years.

There's not going to be a judicial system in January anyway, so Joe is salvaging what he can.

Should we try and huddle up in a bunker near Rovaniemi soon? I'll bring some frozen reindeer and canned goods.

[Barrister]

You're right that the Biden Administration could have done more to create the illusion that she had some useful role in the government, but the real problem is that nobody in the administration cared about what she had to say about anything.  Look at the other VPs of recent years (barring Quayle).  All of them had political sway and constituencies of their own within the Party.  People who the pick was supposed to appeal to didn't take their lead from Harris.  They picked Sanders, Warren or even Buttigieg.

Former Vice-President John Garner once called the Vice Presidency as "not being worth a bucket of warm piss".  In the Constitution the VP has no meaningful role other than voting to break ties in the Senate.

But yes numerous VPs have been seen as significant - Al Gore, Dick Cheney and yes Joe Biden.  They were given important roles and duties by their Presidents, and their Presidents valued their advice.

I don't think that was true of the Biden-Harris relationship.

[garbon]

When I voted for Biden I was under the impression he was going to be a one termer.  I was disappointed when he decided he would run again.

Same

[Valmy]

When I voted for Biden I was under the impression he was going to be a one termer.  I was disappointed when he decided he would run again.

Many people who voted for him were under the impression he only ran to save the country from Trump, and unelectable Democratic politicians, and then pass it on to new leadership later. He all but promised this was the case. But he never explicitly said it, so he wasn't technically lying. But it did not reflect well on him.

And predictably went disastrously. It was nice that brief period in July where it looked like it might work out. But no...

[HVC]

What was devastating was Joe Biden's other decision: to run again in 2024.

If Harris had earned the nomination in a full open Primary she would have been strong enough to win the election. Or whomever did so.

Ultimately that decision is what made Joe Biden's presidency a failed one. He said he was going to be the bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders. Now we just have to hope there is another generation of Democratic leaders.

Is that true though? They went full steam with her, but the mistakes she made in a short campaign (not being interviewed by new media personalities, for example) she would have done in a long campaign. And her lose wasn't close.

[Barrister]

When I voted for Biden I was under the impression he was going to be a one termer.  I was disappointed when he decided he would run again.

Many people who voted for him were under the impression he only ran to save the country from Trump, and unelectable Democratic politicians, and then pass it on to new leadership later. He all but promised this was the case. But he never explicitly said it, so he wasn't technically lying. But it did not reflect well on him.

And predictably went disastrously. It was nice that brief period in July where it looked like it might work out. But no...

He explicitly said in 2020 he was a "bridge to a new generation of leaders".

How much more explicit do you need to get?

[Habbaku]

He explicitly said in 2020 he was a "bridge to a new generation of leaders".

Like many government infrastructure projects, the bridge got longer and more expensive as completion loomed.

[Sheilbh]

What was devastating was Joe Biden's other decision: to run again in 2024.

If Harris had earned the nomination in a full open Primary she would have been strong enough to win the election. Or whomever did so.

Ultimately that decision is what made Joe Biden's presidency a failed one. He said he was going to be the bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders. Now we just have to hope there is another generation of Democratic leaders.

Well also the decisions by senior Democrats around 2016 because I think had Biden run then we'd be looking at the end of two successful terms and wondering WTF the Republicans were thinking with Trump in 2016

And again the decision by the rest of the party not to challenge him as it became clear he was planning to run again. Forcing him out in June 2024 was the right decision. It also should have been done a year before.

[Neil]

You're right that the Biden Administration could have done more to create the illusion that she had some useful role in the government, but the real problem is that nobody in the administration cared about what she had to say about anything.  Look at the other VPs of recent years (barring Quayle).  All of them had political sway and constituencies of their own within the Party.  People who the pick was supposed to appeal to didn't take their lead from Harris.  They picked Sanders, Warren or even Buttigieg.

Former Vice-President John Garner once called the Vice Presidency as "not being worth a bucket of warm piss".  In the Constitution the VP has no meaningful role other than voting to break ties in the Senate.

But yes numerous VPs have been seen as significant - Al Gore, Dick Cheney and yes Joe Biden.  They were given important roles and duties by their Presidents, and their Presidents valued their advice.

I don't think that was true of the Biden-Harris relationship.

Agree.  The administration felt that Harris didn't have as much to offer them.

[Norgy]

He explicitly said in 2020 he was a "bridge to a new generation of leaders".

Like many government infrastructure projects, the bridge got longer and more expensive as completion loomed.

 

[Napoleon XIV]

What was devastating was Joe Biden's other decision: to run again in 2024.

If Harris had earned the nomination in a full open Primary she would have been strong enough to win the election. Or whomever did so.

Ultimately that decision is what made Joe Biden's presidency a failed one. He said he was going to be the bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders. Now we just have to hope there is another generation of Democratic leaders.

Is that true though? They went full steam with her, but the mistakes she made in a short campaign (not being interviewed by new media personalities, for example) she would have done in a long campaign. And her lose wasn't close.

Even if she had won an open primary and done a zillion interviews, I still question whether she could have won it.  Biden and his policies, for various reasons, were generally seen as unpopular and she didn't offer any meaningful difference from them -- and really couldn't given her position as VP in said administration.

She still came close anyway, but it bears remembering that essentially the entire Trump margin came out of the drop in turnout versus 2020 (approximately 3 million fewer total votes while Trump's total margin was shade over 2 million).  Disproportionately that decrease in turnout appeared to come from the left side of the ledger (as was certainly the case here in New York).