This past July was more than eventful politically. The shift in the election landscape was nothing short of seismic – and few saw it coming. It started with a clickbait driven, and sadly, morally bereft, mainstream media (along with some highly placed Democrats and big donors) hounding Joe Biden to exit the Presidential race after a poor debate performance. It ended with the always-underestimated Biden pulling off a master stroke. Not only did Joe Biden choose the perfect moment to bow out of the race, but seamlessly passed the torch to his running mate, VP Kamala Harris, who leapt out of the gate with grace, poise and created an excitement throughout the Democratic Party not seen in a long time.
Consider the timing of Biden’s selfless announcement and endorsement of VP Harris: 1) trump’s GOP had already ended their convention, locking in the disastrous JD Vance as his VP pick, who, in minutes alienated millions of women. “Childless Cat Ladies” anyone? 2) the Sunday shows had already aired, so, no chance self-important talking heads blunting Biden/Harris’ momentum. 3) Within a week, Kamala Harris already had the nomination sewn up with an overwhelming number of delegate endorsements. 4) She then raised a staggering $310 million dollars for the campaign in record time. 5) The pièce de resistance was that just prior to POTUS’ announcement, and while convalescing with Covid, Biden simultaneously orchestrated the biggest prisoner swap since the Cold War, bringing home, among others, journalists Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich, who had been suffering in Russian captivity since the trump administration (when he did nothing to secure their release).
Whew! It’s mind boggling just thinking about it. The best part of this beautiful tag team turnover was that President Biden did this while protecting Kamala’s candidacy and, not accidentally, giving a well-deserved thumb in the eye to big media blowhards, most of whom had been downplaying Biden/Harris’ accomplishments, running down their poll numbers these past 3-1/2 years. We’ve been hearing for years how we’re heading into a recession – which turned out to be the recession that wasn’t. The stock market has never been higher, unemployment hasn’t been this low in 50 years. Biden/Harris accomplished a very rare “soft landing” – which the press only bothered to cover after pushing Biden out of the race.
Look what has been accomplished because of President Biden’s ego-less move – the base of the Democratic party moved like a swarm to unite around the VP, vowing that they would not allow Kamala Harris to be abused by the press and then left hanging as Hillary Clinton was in 2016, when she won the popular vote for the Presidency but narrowly lost the Electoral College. Knowing what we know now about trump, that outcome is certainly suspect. Ironically, Hillary was just about the first enthusiastic endorsement the VP received after President Biden’s “passing of the torch.”
The excitement the VP generates has completely changed the conversation. Now, trump is the old guy in the race. Smartly, Kamala Harris’ campaign has also taken the word Freedom back for Democrats. For the first time in a long time, I feel hopeful and joyous to be not only on the winning team but a unified team. The outreach we have seen in the past two weeks is something special and the notion of welcoming voters into the tent who are diverse politically feels like more than a talking point.
President Biden’s timing was a great favor to both VP Harris and all Democrats. In an unforgivably long election cycle, one would think the American people would get substantive reporting from big media on a candidate’s platform. Instead, we get gotcha politics and an obfuscation of the very information we most need. But here, VP Harris, was able to hit the ground running and introduce herself anew to the American people, without media having already had a year to sully her name in the name of (inexplicably) running interference for the odious, corrupt, twice impeached trump.
From the moment Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris as his running mate in 2020, he treated her not as his second, but as a respected partner. He also restored our country’s dignity, profitability and returned us to a sense of normalcy. This certainly merited a second term. Perhaps he read the tea leaves and saw he needed to move the timeline up and pass the torch earlier than anticipated. President Biden will always have my gratitude for his selflessness and hard work on behalf of the American people.
As we give our all to see Kamala Harris elected President this November, we can take a moment to celebrate that Joe Biden – and his partner – just performed a brilliant end run around those who likely wanted chaos to reign supreme and see them both ousted from the race. Smartly, Democratic Party voters saw through big media’s game and delivered their own thumb in the eye those who do not have our best interests as heart.
Onward!
