Joe Biden’s exit creates a new opportunity for Democrats, but not with Kamala Harris | Opinion

Even with all the pressure from fellow politicians and donors, Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race will go down in history as an act of presidential heroism. Biden defeated Donald Trump once and today he gave America back some small hope of defeating the aging New Yorker, if Democrats can replace him with the right candidate.

In exiting the race, Biden endorsed loyal Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement, but she is not obviously the best choice.

In part, it is Biden’s fault. The president is on record giving her responsibility for the Southern Border leaving her with a policy mess she didn’t have the power to clean up. Now she is saddled with the flood of an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants who entered the country during Biden’s single term in office. Those facts will fire up Trump’s base and drive concerned centrists into the Republican camp.

In addition, Harris has vulnerabilities that could splinter the Democratic Party. She was a dogged foot soldier for the War on Drugs, prosecuting marijuana cases that with the benefit of hindsight look petty. Will the communities ravaged by police and prosecutors in the drug war rally behind a candidate who has put their own in jail? So far polling says yes, but the attacks haven’t come yet.

Among her worst decisions as a prosecutor were several cases where she went after single mothers for the truancy of their children. That’s a bad look.

Moreover, Harris may not be politically adept enough to defeat a demagogue like Trump. Harris fumbled her 2020 run for president, eventually dropping out before a single vote was cast. She made many enemies among Biden loyalists by attacking the former vice-president’s 1970’s era views on busing despite the fact she herself struggled to articulate a position much different than his.

Harris has sometimes taken extreme views and then backed away in a flurry of flip-flops. Among the most covered was her endorsement and then disendorsement of single-payer health care, originally holding a position akin to Vermont Socialist Bernie Sanders. That’s anathema in a general election where Democrats will be tarred as socialists regardless of their positions.

Harris has also struggled to build a loyal cadre of staffers with turnover and grousing by former employees dogging both her Senate and vice presidential careers.

There is precedent for abandoning the heir apparent of a successful president in the name of electability. Harris backers have already attacked such a move as reeking of racism and sexism, but it was old white male Joe Biden who was the last victim of a candidate switcheroo in 2016 to give the nomination to Hillary Clinton, so the accusations don’t hold much sting.

And for all his legislative accomplishments, Biden is a historically unpopular president. A Democrat running against Trump would be better off with a clean slate, rather than having to defend the record of the Biden-Harris administration.

It may not be fair to Kamala Harris, who has been a vigorous number two for the last four years as Biden has run a slowing schedule. Still, she may be just as vulnerable to Trump as her boss is despite the fact that she is only 59 years old.

If Democrats are going to take advantage of the opportunity that Biden’s noble sacrifice has given them, they have to consider other options.

David Mastio, a former editor and columnist for USA Today, is a regional editor for The Center Square and a regular Star Opinion correspondent. Follow him on X: @DavidMastio or email him at dmastio1@yahoo.com