Democrat Party Jeopardy – why Joe Biden Isn’t Going Anywhere

He’s the most powerful player in the Democratic Party.

Who is President Joe Biden?  Technically, yes.

Who is Barack Obama?  Possibly.

Who is Jill Biden?  Very close.

In truth, add Biden’s former Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, and it’s possible that, along with Obama and Dr. Jill, there are three people seriously invested in Joe Biden remaining in the race.

This trio – Obama, Jill Biden, and Ron Klain – are the wagons circled around Joe Biden.  Theirs are the voices, we’re told, that Joe Biden will actually listen to, and they are why Joe Biden will be on the ballot on November 5, Election Day.

Jill Biden
The clips of Jill Biden handling her husband and the media post-debate, though not flattering, were illuminating.  She answered questions for him, as she led him, slowly, off stage.  The contrast between that and Trump striding away was stark.

Had YouTube been around during the days of  President Woodrow Wilson’s stroke in 1919, it’s possible we’d have witnessed First Lady Edith Galt Wilson wielding similar influence. 

Following her husband’s stroke, Edith Wilson basically ran the White House.  She became not merely a gate keeper for the president.  She was liaison between her husband and his Cabinet, and, while she claimed never to have made policy decisions outright, she was effectively the only person in contact with him over the course of his recovery.

In other words, Edith Wilson was no one to trifle with.

The Left – particularly the media – has been brutal on the First Lady since the debate.   Her own former press secretary, Michael LaRosa, offered that she, and Biden’s closest advisors, “orchestrated” and “controlled” the president. 

Perhaps.  But much like Edith Wilson, Jill Biden’s in a position 1) that presents her with a great deal of influence; 2) sets her up not to be trifled with.

Ron Klain
For years, Klain has whispered in Biden’s ear, and Biden’s listened.  Klain, Biden’s first Chief of Staff, took time off from his job as legal counsel for Airbnb, to spend a week at Camp David and help Biden prepare for the debate.

In 2000, Klain served as Vice President Al Gore’s Chief of Staff, and oversaw the Gore campaign’s recount of votes in Florida that ultimately ended with George W. Bush declared the winner and new president.

Biden trusts Klain implicitly, and Klain is no stranger to power.  However, at 62, it’s likely Klain’s White House influence comes to end if Biden steps aside.  It’s easy for those outside of the White House to argue for Biden to drop out.  But it’s another thing entirely for someone so close to power to offer that advice.

Barack Obama
From the opening bell of the 2016 race for the White House, Democrats have longed for Michelle Obama to run for president.  More popular among Democrats than Hillary Clinton, Michelle was invincible.  Or so was the thinking.  But Michelle Obama wanted nothing to do with it.

Today, again Democrats fantasize about Michelle Obama stepping in and saving the day.  Once again, Michelle Obama says she wants nothing to do with the White House life.

Her husband doesn’t appear to feel that way.  From Biden’s first day in office, conservatives and liberals alike believe they’ve seen Obama’s hand in Biden’s policies.

Conservatives think Obama purposely bought a home in an exclusive District of Columbia neighborhood to run the White House from behind the scenes.

While Biden’s “green” agenda and healthcare reforms substantially mirror Obama’s, it has been his effort to reimplement Obama’s Iran policies that fuel Republican beliefs that Biden is basically Obama’s third term.

While it’s impossible to state with any authority that Biden is Obama’s proxy in the Oval Office, it’s not a reach to believe the former president has a lot still to gain with four more years of the current one.

He’s the President.
Despite his cognitive decline, Joe Biden knows he’s the president, and, to paraphrase an old saying, “It’s good to be the president.” 

This isn’t any small thing for him.  He’s wanted to be president for a long time.  He ran in 1988, but that was cut short by one of his most glaring character defects, um, exaggeration.  In the case of his 1988 run, Biden plagiarized a speech.  Not just any speech, however.  He lifted from one of the best-known speeches from one of the best-known political figures in the United Kingdom – British Labor Party Leader Neil Kinnock.  As they say: “Go big, or go home.”  In this instance, Biden went home. Or back to the Senate.

Twenty years later, in 2008, he became Obama’s vice president.  Woodrow Wilson’s vice president, Thomas Marshall, said once: “There were two brothers.  One ran off to the sea.  The other became vice president.  Neither was heard from again.”

That isn’t case for Joe Biden.  His 2020 election guaranteed he’ll be remembered, but serving one term lumps him in with the likes of Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush.  That’s probably hard to swallow.

Which leads us to Final Jeopardy.
Currently, the only scenario in which Democrats could replace President Joe Biden as their party leader would be if he decides not to run for re-election. There isn't a procedural mechanism within the Democratic Party to forcibly remove a sitting president from being the nominee if he chooses to seek re-election. So, any change in candidacy would have to come voluntarily from President Biden himself.
And, as one Republican political consultant allowed: “Stepping down would be the right thing for the party.  But Biden’s always been in it for Biden, not the party.”

What is music to former President Donald Trump’s ears?  Precisely.
President Donald Trump’s ears?  Precisely.