OPINION:
President Biden has had a rough few weeks.
Cocaine was found at the White House. A federal judge ruled that his administration colluded with Big Tech to censor free speech. King Charles III had to guide a seemingly confused Mr. Biden around Windsor Castle so he wouldn’t get lost.
The New York Times decried Mr. Biden’s decision not to acknowledge his seventh granddaughter as “shameful.” Axios reported that Mr. Biden’s temper rages behind closed doors, and he routinely yells and curses at his aides.
Some have speculated the bad press is indicative of a Democratic Party desperate to prevent the 80-year-old commander in chief from seeking reelection in 2024 — after all, Mr. Biden did signal to his aides during the 2020 campaign that he would serve only one term.
“According to four people who regularly talk to Biden, all of whom asked for anonymity to discuss internal campaign matters, it is virtually inconceivable that he will run for reelection in 2024 when he would be the first octogenarian president,” Politico reported Dec. 11, 2019.
“If Biden is elected,” a prominent adviser to the 2020 Biden campaign told Politico, “He’s going to be 82 years old in four years, and he won’t be running for reelection.”
For the Democratic establishment in late 2020, the thinking was that Mr. Biden would step aside in 2024 and be replaced by the future of the party: a tested and seasoned Vice President Kamala Harris.
“In selecting Kamala Harris as his running mate, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden did more than make history by putting the first Black woman and first Asian-American on a major national ticket,” Time magazine cooed in August 2020. “He all but anointed an heir, positioning Harris as the future standard bearer of a party in transition.”
Flash-forward three years, and Mr. Biden has declared that he’s running again, despite low approval ratings, a lagging economy, a chaotic southern border, a war in Ukraine, numerous pay-to-play scandals — and questions about his mental acuity.
What’s even more surprising is that the Democratic establishment has circled the wagons around him instead of opting for an open primary cycle with rival candidates and open debates.
It’s not some bad press that is bothering them. What does matter is the disaster that Ms. Harris has been as vice president.
Mr. Biden’s approval rating has been lingering around the lowest levels of his presidency: 40%. Yet that’s 8 percentage points higher than his hapless second-in-command. Only 32% of registered voters have a positive view of Ms. Harris, who has a net-negative rating of minus 17, the lowest for a vice president in the history of NBC News polling.
It’s not as if she hasn’t been given opportunities to shine: Ms. Harris has been tasked with solving the southern border crisis, expanding voting rights, increasing broadband access, addressing Black maternal mortality and racial inequality, and promoting women in the workforce. She even chairs the administration’s National Space Council, setting the nation’s course for the cosmos.
So far, she has no policy wins. Nor, her many critics say, has she demonstrated any particular expertise, proficiency or readiness to tackle anything in her varied portfolio.
On a personal level, Ms. Harris breaks into a cackling laugh whenever she’s feeling uncomfortable (which is often). Her off-the-cuff remarks are often pointless word salads, such as her recent speculating on the “significance of the passage of time” or her painful attempts to define the word “culture,” as she did earlier this month.
Ms. Harris’ West Wing office has gone through a number of staff changes, resignations and firings. Even The Washington Post stated in 2021 that her staffing woes “reignite questions about her leadership style — and her future ambitions.”
What has protected Ms. Harris is that she is a woman and she is Black. Her team constantly says she’s being treated unfairly because of her sex and race. The Democrats — a party hooked on identity politics — could never openly admit they no longer want her as their heir apparent. Opposing her, of course, would be sexist and racist.
But the party’s leaders are politically savvy. It’s better, they have clearly calculated, to retain a feeble president who has proved he will cater to the party’s whims (and has already defeated potential 2024 rival Donald Trump once at the polls) than it is to elevate Ms. Harris to the top spot.
After all, they don’t want history to repeat itself.
On March 31, 1968, an embattled President Lyndon Johnson told his party he wouldn’t seek reelection. Vice President Hubert Humphrey became the Democrats’ standard-bearer in the race that year, despite broad concerns that he wasn’t up to the task.
The critics were correct: Mr. Humphrey lost to Republican Richard Nixon in the general election, and the rest is history.
Realistically, Mr. Biden’s hold on his party is assured for as long as the unqualified Ms. Harris is by his side. She is his best insurance policy against a potential Democratic palace revolt.
Of course, she could also be his greatest liability. Many voters in 2024 are likely to conclude that a vote for Mr. Biden for president could very well be one that puts President Kamala Harris in the Oval Office.
• Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor at The Washington Times.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.