OPINION:
For well over a year, I have been saying President Biden will not be the 2024 nominee of the Democrat Party.
On my radio podcast, on my Washington Times “ForAmerica” podcast, on The Capitol Hill Show and in my guest appearances on television networks I have repeatedly said Mr. Biden, at his party’s convention, will appear before a polite but unenthusiastic crowd and acknowledge that he is no longer up to the task. An astonished audience will wonder what on earth is next. What comes next will stun the nation and energize the Democrats like nothing before.
What comes next will be Michelle Obama.
Mrs. Obama will be introduced by Mr. Biden to a shocked yet jubilant crowd of party faithful. The network news anchors will pause long enough to pick their collective jaws up from the floor, and then in giddy, childlike tones, will praise their nation’s new savior, nonstop.
In her speech to her party, Mrs. Obama will share how she has never had political aspirations, but in this pivotal moment, in good conscience, she feels obligated to serve her country. She will vilify former President Donald Trump. She will invoke racism and stoke the fictional fear of an incoming dictator. She will act reticent and reluctant yet be amazingly well prepared. While demonizing her opponent she will simultaneously insist that America can do better.
The Democrats’ convention is scheduled for late August, so Mrs. Obama will leave Chicago with roughly two months until Election Day. Because of the nature of her “surprise” candidacy, public appearances will be limited at first. The mainstream media will fawn all over her, however, assuring she has positive attention on a daily basis. In September, she will attend a couple of giant rallies in arenas or perhaps even football stadiums, drawing crowds that Mr. Biden or 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton never could. Specific policy initiatives will be non-existent, but some version of “hope” will be her recurrent theme. In October, she will appear on a televised special with Oprah Winfrey, drawing more than 50 million viewers.
Mrs. Obama will energize and unify her party. She will draw support from women everywhere and, like her husband, she will draw 95% or more of the Black vote.
When I first shared this prediction, it drew snickers. When I was on television, my prediction would receive a scoffing dismissal by commentators from the left. In the last few months, however, the laughs and the nudges have been replaced by grudging acknowledgements that Mr. Biden doesn’t appear to be as sharp as he once was, but those have always been followed by some sort of disbelief that any such late replacement of a sitting president could actually occur.
After the first 2024 presidential debate, I look like Nostradamus.
At the opening of the debate, Mr. Biden shuffled on stage. From his first answer he looked and sounded old and frail. In the 14th minute of the debate, Mr. Biden spiraled downward with a nonsensical answer that made even his biggest detractors uncomfortable with how embarrassingly unfit he looked. Late in the debate, he rallied a little, but the damage had been done. Commentators on the major news networks who normally serve as Biden cheerleaders were literally squirming in their seats. Many were asking who and how a replacement nominee could be found.
The Drudge Report normally has a poll asking readers to vote for who they think won presidential debates. Mr. Biden’s performance was so weak that Thursday night’s poll asked a different question: Who should replace Mr. Biden on the ticket? The choices offered were California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Vice President Kamala Harris, Mrs. Clinton and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The fifth choice was “other.”
“Other” was the big winner with nearly 40% of the vote. Noticeably absent from the poll? Mrs. Obama’s name. That’s because part of the magic of her choice in late August will be the surprise factor. If she is forced to respond now about her level of interest in the job or worse yet, asked to discuss policy initiatives, the shine may wear off before the convention is even gaveled open. With a surprise announcement at the convention, where thousands of party loyalists will be gathered, Mrs. Obama will instantly crystalize support from her own party and quickly add from outside the party as well.
The Democrats will nominate Mrs. Obama. I’ve said it for over a year. It was a crazy notion, until it wasn’t. The disturbingly sad reality that Mr. Biden is not in charge was laid bare for the world to see Thursday night. Now as the party and a complicit media scramble for an answer, keep in mind one thought.
Tim “Nostradamus” Constantine was right all along.
• Tim Constantine hosts “The Capitol Hill Show” for The Washington Times.
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