Apparently wilting under tremendous pressure from within his party, US President Joe Biden has finally announced he would not be in the presidential race this November and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him. Democrats heaved a sigh of relief that Biden has opted out of the race after having doggedly insisted that he would seek re-election. Efforts were being made by several Democrat leaders, including former President Barack Obama, to dissuade Biden from going ahead with his plan to contest in the election, but he was adamant. It was indeed a difficult call since quitting in the middle of the campaign would have created the impression that the President had run away in the face of sure defeat at the hand of Trump, even if it could have been a close contest. He and his party were seemingly looking for an alibi as his statements during the past few days did indicate. The opportunity appeared to have come when Biden had a COVID attack and was confined to his private house. Now the argument that he would be too debilitated by the virus to campaign at the advanced age of 81 would appear plausible.
The rival camp of the Republican candidate former President Donald Trump was gloating over the likely defeat of Biden after the latter’s disastrous showing in a nationally televised debate with Trump. The way he fumbled, broke off in the middle of sentences and presented an image of a too old, doddering and infirm candidate, his party senators, top leaders and supporters were aghast and feared he would be no match for Trump. Whatever vestiges of hope some of them had were dashed after the attempt on the life of Trump that triggered a wave of sympathy for the former President and hugely boosted his chance of winning. That seemingly made the demand for Biden’s abandoning the re-election bid even more raucous. The share market responded favourably for Trump and donations for his presidential race increased by leaps and bounds.
At this stage the emergence of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Presidential candidate will force Trump and his campaign managers to redraw their strategy which has so long focused on attacking Biden for his age and policy paralysis. Harris accepted the challenge with glee and said within hours of Biden’s announcement that she would seek the nomination in his place. Many Democrats quickly lined up behind her.
If Trump thought he was much ahead of Biden, now it would be a different ball game with Harris on the scene. The words of both Biden and Harris are redolent of new hope and determination. Biden gave a call to fellow-Democrats and said: “It is time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.” Harris immediately raised the pitch of her campaign and echoed her boss: “Together, we will fight, and together we will win.”
No sitting American president has dropped out of a race so late in the election cycle. The Democratic National Convention, where Biden was to have been formally nominated by nearly 4,000 delegates, is scheduled to begin 19 August in Chicago. Harris has certain built-in advantages. She has often been at her best politically when she has taken on the role of prosecutor-in-chief and as a senator on the Judiciary Committee where her intensive cross-examinations went viral. During the campaign she can project herself as the best suited to “prosecute the case” against Trump who still faces more than one future criminal trial.
Another strength of Harris is her strong advocacy of the rights of Afro-American and Asian population. She has also forcefully taken up the right to abortion that shook the women of the country when Trump’s camp followers created a situation when women had to travel to distant Democrat ruled States to avoid the ban on abortion in their native Republican state.
Harris will have to cross the hurdle of getting her party’s nomination. There are some heavyweights in the party who are maintaining a studied silence on the issue. Only about 100 days are left and the Democrats will have to decide on their candidate without any further delay if they want to have a real fighting chance against Trump.