I did not have ‘Pelosi takes on the gerontocracy’ on my 2024 bingo card
One Pelosi ally said it was possible she would press Biden publicly to give up his spot atop the Democratic ticket.
“The speaker does not want to call on him to resign, but she will do everything in her power to make sure it happens,” this person said, referring to Biden quitting the race.
[Edit] changed the title to Politico’s after reading this community’s sidebar
I don’t think it’s really fair to blame Obama now, it’s a clusterfuck and why would he want to get back in the middle of things. Also if we are to blame Obama for anything, it should be for him discouraging Biden not to run in 2016 over Hillary. Even if Biden lost like Hillary did back then, he likely wouldn’t run again in 2020, leaving an opening for younger Democrats to enter the presidential scene, avoiding the whole situation we’re in now.
The other issue is that even if Biden does drop out, what nominee would be able to survive the three wammies?
Also if we are to blame Obama for anything, it should be for him discouraging Biden not to run in 2016 over Hillary
Deeper than that. Obama inherited the party infrastructure Howard Dean built as DNC chair that was effective at state and local levels. That infrastructure completely fell apart after Obama loyalists took over the party after 2008. Dean ran a 50 state strategy and had built the party to support lower level candidates and contest elections Democrats had traditionally ignored. Post Obama the party shifted back to a focus on marquee races that didn’t really provide support to state parties and startup candidates.
That’s genuinely the single biggest Obama fuckup that doesn’t really get talked about much because it’s very insider baseball. But it’s had very real effects on how Democrats have failed in lower level elections in the years since, which has percolated up into everything else since.
Though perhaps if Biden lost in 2016 we would’ve had Hilary running in 2020, and who knows if she would’ve won that one. Then we could be approaching Trump’s 3rd term (with help from his friends in the Supreme Court) with Russia chewing through Ukraine and on their way to Eastern Europe, a fractured NATO alliance, and probably some other unimaginable horrors.
With Trump running in 16, 20, and 24, I don’t know if there’s a timeline change that would prevent 2024 from being an absolute clusterfuck. Unless maybe RBG had retired during Obama’s term as she should have.
As the party’s elder statesman, it is Obama’s job to say what he thinks about party issues. But, his silence is a form of communication. It says that he basically agrees with what is happening to his old buddy Joe. Obama could have ended this a week ago by coming out 4 Square for Joe while urging party unity. He did not.
