‘There’s No Plan B’: Democrats Need to Go All-In on Biden in 2024 - Analyst
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The Biden 2024 campaign has so far failed to deploy its most potent weapons in the 2024 campaign race, including: the president’s record on economic and social issues and the ability of US Vice President Kamala Harris to speak directly to some of the social groups the campaign needs support from the most.
While the Republicans have been tearing each other apart over political endorsements in the 2024 presidential primary race, the Democrats have largely failed to capitalize on the chaos in their adversary’s ranks. US President Joe Biden has failed to make headway in the polls, with the latest round all showing him hovering at around 40% approval rating.
Kim Keenan, an adjunct professor at George Washington University and former general counsel of the NAACP, told Radio Sputnik’s Political Misfits on Monday that the Democrats had no choice but to go all-in on Biden because they have no real alternative, noting that there were many ways the Biden team might try to improve their polling numbers among key groups, including young people, Black people, women, and Hispanic voters.
“A year is a long time in a political campaign,” she said.
“A year out, I don’t know that they have hammered down on their true message to the American public. I think that a lot of people are really tuned out. I mean, it’s overwhelming: all these candidates from all these different parties, and they’re fighting with each other, they’re fighting their parties, they’re fighting Trump - I mean there’s so much going on. But yeah, I think the polls are all accurate because they all say the same thing, but I also think they’re polling the ‘faithful few’ and not the real people we need to get out on Election Day. I don’t think it’s too late, but I do think something has to be done, though, I don’t think there’s any laurels to rest on here.”
Keenan said Biden needs to talk about “the positive things” on the campaign trail and “what people need,” such as abortion access, economic gains, stemming inflation, and other “heavy hitter” things. Those, she said, would be key to winning over younger voters who might be skeptical of Biden’s age.
27 November 2023, 07:32 GMT
‘There’s No Plan B’
Asked about the “Democratic bench” of candidates behind Biden if the incumbent president decided not to run, Keenan said “I don’t think there is a bench” and Democrats shouldn’t pretend otherwise.
“There is no Plan B. He’s [Biden] Plan A and they better wind up Plan A until the wheels fall off,” she said.
She noted that there have been “different formulas” when it comes to structuring presidential tickets, such as what role the vice presidential candidate is imagined to have, but that what mattered most was who was at the head of the ticket, as that is “who is there to pull it.”
However, as far as vice presidents go, the chances to shine are few and far between, as US Vice President Kamala Harris has discovered.
“People act like this job is where you get to shine and where you show up: you get to do all the worst stuff, where all the worst things are happening, where all of it is something where we know we can’t win but we gotta show up,” she said. “To the extent that we have that to judge her by, I feel like sometimes it’s a little unfair to judge her based on the jobs she’s been given … she gets to do what she’s told to do and that’s been true” of any vice president, Keenan noted, adding that she thought Harris was unfairly judged as compared to other vice presidents because she is the first woman to hold the job.
The professor said she thought Harris would still be able to benefit Biden’s campaign, however, because of her speaking skills when it comes to women and young voters - two demographics vital to their electoral success.
“I went to something recently and I got to see Kamala Harris speak, and I’ve got to tell you, when it’s time to get those young people out, I’ll bet we’re going to see a whole lot of her because she is able to talk to people directly about the things that matter for them,” she said. “That’s where she’s going to provide her balance for this.”
‘Tactical Error’ of GOP Infighting
The hosts then turned to the GOP side of the aisle and asked about the furious Trump campaign response to the endorsement of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by Jenna Ellis, a conservative lawyer who was part of Trump’s legal team in 2020 that attempted to legally overturn the results of the November 2020 election.
“I think they made a tactical error,” she said.
“You guys are asking me if the bullies picked on somebody who really just gave their own opinion over in their corner and they now want to out this person, cancel them, make them a pariah, you know, why would they do that? Because they’re the bullies on the playground and they pick on people, and sometimes they don’t realize it’s not in their best interest. If they had let this go it would have gone away, but no, they had to call her a harlot. If they call her a harlot then what does that make Trump?” she said, adding that Ellis was “right to laugh and make fun of this because it’s a joke.”
Keenan said this kerfuffle, just one of several feuds between Trump and other conservative leaders and GOP politicians, did not seem to have hurt the Republican presidential primary front-runner.
“Unfortunately nothing seems to hurt him. I think at the end of the day, what it comes down to is, there are some Republicans who are starting to say: ‘is this really the guy we want to be president? I know he’s ‘MAGA’, I know everybody is obsessed with him, but day-to-day, time-over-time, is this really the guy we’re picking? Are we picking someone who’s basically dishonest and lies when they’re talking and someone who hasn’t accomplished any of the things he said he did and who pretty much is likely to be a criminal in the next year or so?’ I think they start thinking to themselves ‘how do we defend this, objectively’? And that means we pick DeSantis.”
“Talk about not having a bench? Sometimes you can have a bench but the bench is so bad. I mean, the bench is so bad that [former New Jersey Governor Chris] Christie looks good,” she added.
