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Allies of Vice President Harris blame President Biden for her loss

2024-11-08 09:38:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Joe Biden's name was not on the ballot in the Nov. 5 election, but history will likely remember Kamala Harris's big loss as his own.

After President-elect Donald Trump's landslide victory, some of the vice president's supporters are expressing their displeasure, saying the fact that Mr. Biden waited until the summer to withdraw from the race — despite early concerns among voters about his age and concerns about post-pandemic inflation, as well as the situation on the US-Mexico border - sealed his party's loss of the White House.

"The biggest responsibility for this loss lies with President Biden," said Andrew Yang, who ran against Mr. Biden in 2020 for the Democratic nomination and supported Ms. Harris' unsuccessful bid.

"If he had resigned in January and not in July, we could be in a very different situation."

Mr. Biden leaves office after leading the United States out of the worst pandemic in a century, boosting international support for Ukraine after Russia's aggression and approving a $1 trillion package for the country's infrastructure that will have an impact for years. .

But after running against Mr Trump four years ago to "bring back the soul of the country", Mr Biden will hand over the post to his predecessor after just one term. Mr. Trump has vowed to fundamentally reform the federal government and back away from many of Mr. Biden's priorities.

"Maybe 20 or 30 years from now, history will remember Biden for some of these accomplishments," says Thom Reilly, co-director of the Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy at Arizona State University.

"But in the short term, it will be difficult for him to avoid the legacy of being the president who defeated Donald Trump only to pave the way for another Donald Trump administration four years later."

On Thursday, Mr. Biden did not directly address the electorate's dissatisfaction with his presidency, but said that Americans will feel the effects of his administration's legislative initiatives for years to come.

"Don't forget everything we accomplished," Mr. Biden said in a brief speech in the White House Rose Garden attended by cabinet members and senior aides, but not Ms. Harris. "It was a historic presidency - not because I am president, but thanks to what we have done. To what you have done."

He issued a statement shortly after Ms Harris made her acceptance speech on Wednesday, praising her for a "historic campaign" in "extraordinary circumstances".

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not directly respond to questions about criticism that Mr. Biden waited too long to withdraw.

"He believed he made the right decision," Ms Jean-Pierre said at the daily press conference.

Only about 4 in 10 voters in the 2024 presidential election approve of Mr. Biden's job as president, according to AP VoteCast, a poll of more than 120,000 voters nationwide. Roughly 6 in 10 disapproved of him, and Donald Trump carved out a significant majority of those voters who were unhappy with Mr. Biden.

Several top Democrats, including three advisers to Ms. Harris's campaign, expressed deep disappointment that Mr. Biden did not admit earlier in the election cycle that he was not up to the challenge of re-election. The councilors spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

The 81-year-old Biden ended his re-election campaign in July, weeks after a poor showing in a debate against Mr Trump that raised questions about his mental acuity to be a credible candidate.

But polls had long shown that many Americans were worried about his age. About 77% of Americans said in August 2023 that Mr. Biden was too old to be effective for another four years, according to a poll by the Associated Press news agency and the NORC Public Affairs Center (AP-NORC).

The president stepped down on July 21 after being not-so-subtly urged by prominent Democratic Party figures, including former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to drop out of the re-election race.

Mr. Biden endorsed Ms. Harris for candidacy. Massachusetts state lawmaker Seth Moulton, one of several Democratic lawmakers who publicly called on Mr. Biden to step down this summer, said Thursday on CNN that the Democratic Party "would have been in a much better position" if Mr. Biden had had left the race earlier.

Mr. Yang argued that Democratic Party leaders should also be held accountable for waiting so long to remove Mr. Biden. With few exceptions, such as Minnesota lawmaker Dean Phillips, Democrats have not been outspoken about Mr. Biden's age.

"Why was such a thing not done by any democratic leader?" Mr. Yang said. "The reason is a lack of courage and independence and an excessive careerism."

The campaign also suffered from anger among Arab-American voters and youth over Israel's approach to the war in Gaza and Lebanon.

Senator Bernie Sanders, an ally of President Biden and Vice President Harris, said in a statement that Democrats were not paying attention to the concerns of middle-class Americans.

"Will those who support the interests of the wealthy and the well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign?" said the independent Vermont lawmaker.

Ms. Harris managed to generate far greater enthusiasm than Mr. Biden in the party's base. But she failed to clearly state how her administration would differ from Mr. Biden's.

On a television show in September, Vice President Harris could not cite any example of how she would make a different decision than Mr. Biden.

"I can't think of anything," Ms. Harris said, giving Mr. Trump's campaign material for ads that ran until Election Day.

Advisers to Ms. Harris said the short campaign made it even harder for the vice president to distance herself from the president. If Mr. Biden had retired earlier in the year, they said, that would have given Democrats enough time to hold an election within the party. A race within the party would have forced Ms. Harris or another potential candidate to highlight her differences with Mr. Biden more.

Democratic advisers acknowledge that deep resentment about the rising costs of the pandemic and widespread concerns about the US immigration system were important to voters in key states.

Still, they said Mr. Biden had put Democrats in a difficult position.

David Plouffe, a senior adviser to Ms Harris, said the campaign team "tried their hearts out for their country".

"We rose from a very low point, but apparently not enough," he said. "A painful loss".

This post was later deleted.

Some supporters of Ms. Harris say they wish she had had more time to woo American voters.

In addition to the White House, Republicans will also control the Senate. Control for the House of Representatives has not been determined.

Matt Bennett, executive vice president of the Third Way group, a Democratic ally, said it's the party's toughest moment he's seen.

"Harris was put in a very difficult position, partly because of Mr. Biden and partly because of other reasons," says Mr. Bennett, who was an adviser to Vice President Al Gore during the (President) Clinton administration.

"Would the Democrats be in a better position if Biden had retired earlier? I don't know if we can say for sure, but that's a valid question.”/ Voa