A Plausible Idea on How to Replace Biden in a Democratic Way.
Siem Reap, Cambodia, July 9th, 2024.
Salaroche

I don’t always agree with famed Democratic Political Strategist James Carville’s assertions. I often find his analyses formulaic, almost run-of-the-mill. However, regarding Joe Biden’s current critical predicament, I have to agree with him to a good extent. My take on his latest proposal on this matter goes as follows.

Anointing Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s heir for the 2024 presidential elections would be at best an iffy thing to do. There are only a few months left for the current presidential term to expire, for that reason Biden’s replacement cannot be a normal, automatic transfer of power from the President to the VP.

The current question is how to replace Biden as THE CANDIDATE for President which, to be as legitimate as possible, requires that the American people be involved in the process as much as possible too. However, given that time is of the utmost importance, such selection cannot be done through direct vote as it is done in normal primaries, so it has to be done with the active participation of the Convention Delegates, which this year are approximately 4,672 in number.

To be selected at the first ballot, a candidate would need to be approved by a majority of the pledged delegates, meaning 1,968 votes. If the selection goes to a second round, the chosen candidate would need to get 2,258 votes out of the total number of delegates, which would also include 739 superdelegates.

Previous to the Convention, the replacement candidates would be able to present their cases to the American people via speeches, live presentations and political ads, perhaps as well as a couple of televised debates. But the crucial first step in implementing this idea would be how to first select the candidates. And it is here where James Carville’s idea may come into play.

Carville proposes that it be ex-Presidents Clinton and Obama who make the selection among those candidates willing to participate, but his idea looks only partially acceptable to me. In my view, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schummer (D-NY) should also be in the selection committee, with the participation of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as tie-breaker.

Once the most viable candidates are chosen, the selection process would unfold as previously outlined. The whole effort would require an extraordinary amount of unity of purpose from the part of the Democrats, so that internal quarrels wouldn’t delay or derail the process but, given the urgency of the circumstances, I’m almost sure they could manage to palliate whatever differences there may exist between them.

Problem is, we’re running out of time, so, either the Democrats send a delegation to the White House soon officially requesting that Biden withdraw his candidacy, or such very same delegation goes on primetime TV to assert their unconditional support for his candidacy.

I am personally inclined to support the first option, as I don’t trust that Biden would perform well during a second debate but, most importantly, the more those undecided voters are disappointed in Biden’s performance, the higher the chances that they might foolishly defect to the MAGA ranks.

No doubt about it, this ultra-extraordinary situation demands that the Democrats finally show they have that which they have usually shown to lack: BALLS. To read James Carville’s opinion piece, please click here.

Salaroche