Just In Case...

As long as questions remain about Joe Biden’s ability to run a winning campaign, the Democratic Party apparatus has to quietly allow other candidates to tacitly start running.  

Dems have some good prospects.  Kamala Harris has been improving in the last couple of years and was excellent in post-debate interviews. Gretchen Whitmer beat back the right-wing militias and hasn’t kowtowed to the furious Arab population in Michican. Gavin Newsom is an obvious choice. Former Army officer Wes Moore of Maryland says he’s not running but can shut Trump down just based on his life experience.

in any case, they’ve made a couple of serious mistakes and can only hope that they’re not fatal. They’ve allowed the media to drive the narrative about Biden’s capacity to lead when they should have shut down the questioning immediately. Bernie Sanders did it when Kaitlin Collins obsessively refused to drop a particularly tendentious line of questioning. They shouldn’t refuse to appear on screen, but they can refuse to play the media’s game and stick to discussing policies, Project 2025, and Trump’s criminality and lies.

Biden and many Democrats, including the Black caucus, have also made the mistake of staking out absolutist positions. Now they’re screwed if they have to reverse course. They’ve isolated those who genuinely believe there are better choices for the party and made them seem like renegades. Jerry Nadler has made a fool of himself by leaking his determination to oppose the continuation of Biden’s campaign and then flip-flopping.

Everyone in the Democratic Party believes Biden has done a damn good job as President. That doesn’t require them to support him if they genuinely believe he can’t win. Many seem to have forgotten that he was at least marginally behind in the polls prior to the debate, and seems to have dropped a bit from there. They’ve forgotten that Arab-Americans, especially in Michigan, are unlikely to change their minds and support Biden. The same for young people. His support in the Black community isn’t as strong as it was, though maybe it’ll get a lift from the Black caucus.

That means the prospects for his re-election are as bad or worse than they were before the debate. His assurances notwithstanding, Dems better keep their options open. Or else.