The Democrats Are in Bad Place Right Now

Compare and contrast 1968 and 2024

After Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, it’s obvious to most of us that old age has caught up with him. It wasn’t so much that he made a mistake, or that he said the wrong thing. What shocked so many people was his obvious mental decline. While only his doctors know for sure, Biden seems to be showing symptoms of Parkinson’s.

When you see a side-by-side comparison with Biden’s performance in the last election, versus this one, his mental decline is obvious. In a CBS poll after the debate, almost 75% of Americans think Biden does not have the mental and cognitive health to serve as president.

The problem for the Democrats is that they shot themselves in the foot. Biden’s mental decline was largely hidden from the public, and many people had no idea. For instance, nine months ago, in a press conference in Vietnam, Biden had a performance every bit as bad as his debate. He was confused and rambling. In the video, you can hear his press secretary cutting him off.

And then there was the document imbroglio. Vice-President Biden kept classified documents when he left the White House. All presidents do this. But since it’s an election year, keeping classified documents is now said to be a crime. Trump is arrested and prosecuted, while Biden skips free. Why? The special prosecutor in the case, Robert Hur, elected not to charge Biden, because the president’s mind was too far gone.

Biden and his family should have recognized that he was in no shape to serve another four years. Biden could have gracefully stepped aside many months ago, and allowed the Democrats a serious primary election, like the Republicans had. Instead the Democrats kept whistling past the graveyard, pretending that everything was fine with the president.

Is it 1968 all over again?

A couple of months ago, NPR noted the similarities between 1968 and 2024. In both elections, we’ve got the Democrats holding their convention in Chicago, raging anti-war protests, and a Kennedy running for president. If Biden resigns like Johnson did, the parallels will be kind of spooky.

There are some differences, of course. Back in 1968, the Democrat primary was way more democratic. President Johnson had primary opposition, in the form of Eugene McCarthy. And so the voters had a choice.

“Clean Gene” was a long-shot candidate. Johnson won the New Hampshire primary, but McCarthy did better than expected. At that point, another anti-war candidate, Bobby Kennedy, entered the race. And that’s when LBJ abandoned his dream of re-election, and quit his campaign.

Once LBJ pulled out, Hubert Humphrey decided to run, as a Democrat who supported the war. And then Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. And so the Democrats had a truly messed up primary. There was not a nominee going into the convention. And outside in the streets of Chicago, there were riots. Ultimately, Humphrey got enough votes, and he emerged as the Democrats’ candidate. And a notorious Republican (Richard Nixon) would go on to win the election in November.

Unlike Johnson, Biden has so far refused to step aside. And when Bobby Kennedy Jr. tried to run in opposition, the Biden machine forced him out of the primary before any voters had an opportunity to vote for him.

Instead of allowing democracy to work, the Biden camp gambled that it could hide the president’s mental decline from the American people until after the election. But that gamble failed miserably at the first debate, when 51 million people saw how badly he’s doing.

Now what?

Obviously, Biden should have announced that he’s not seeking re-election, and he should have done so before the primaries. He could have announced his retirement with grace. That would have opened up the Democrat primaries, and the ultimate nominee would be decided by the voters.

Now, the Democrats’ options are a lot worse. Biden can stay on the ticket, of course. Short of trying a 25th Amendment coup, the Democrats are stuck with him if he refuses to drop out. If he stays in, it’s more and more likely that Biden will lose in November, and Trump will sail back into the White House. That’s what is causing the Democrat freak-out.

Biden’s other option is to withdraw from the race. If Biden does so before the convention starts in August, then almost all his delegates would be released from their commitments and their votes would be up for grabs.

Or, in another move, Biden could play king-maker (or queen-maker) and wait until he is nominated, and then he withdraws. The DNC would then pick the nominee in a back room. And Biden dominates the DNC.

Many Democrats are worried that Kamala Harris will be the nominee in that scenario. Ostensibly, Biden picked her as vice-president because he thinks she would be a fine president if he needs to be replaced. So it would be awkward if he doesn’t think she should be the nominee.

Regardless, the Democrats are in a bad situation now. Mr. Biden can no longer hide his illness from the American people. That cat’s out of the bag. The liberal media has decided that he has to go. His campaign is, perhaps, irreparably damaged. And the primary season is over.

So if the Democrats put forth another candidate at this late date, they will have to do so without any primary voting. That’s a really anti-democratic way to find a nominee.