Vice President Kamala Harris seems to recognize that President Biden has become politically radioactive and wants to create as much separation as possible between the two.
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The Democrats are wasting no time in sidelining President Joe Biden.
The Democratic National Convention, which began in Chicago on Monday, put the outgoing Democratic Party chairman at the center of the first night of the nominating convention. And they couldn’t even let Biden speak in prime time, when most viewers are watching. He took the stage nearly an hour later than scheduled.
This is very different from what Biden envisioned a month ago.
Before the president announced on July 21 that he would withdraw from the presidential campaign to crown Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor, the party convention was supposed to be all about him.
How quickly things can change.
By scheduling Biden for the first night of the convention, Democrats can comfortably put the past behind them and continue their newfound love affair with Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
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I feel sorry for Biden. Don’t you?
Harris will cap the convention with her speech on Thursday. And it will, I am sure, be widely watched – and, as Harris supporters would say, full of “joy.”
But Biden received the opposite treatment on Monday night and was probably not too pleased.
In the restructuring following Biden’s departure, convention organizers and party leaders did everything in their power to portray the president as a figure of the past.
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And by using him for opening night, they created the greatest possible distance between Harris and Biden.
Symbolically, this seems like a major insult to Biden. Typically, the excitement at a convention increases as the presidential candidate’s official acceptance speech approaches, and the caliber and prominence of the speakers increases accordingly.
Other party leaders who will give speeches on subsequent evenings include former President Barack Obama (Tuesday) and former President Bill Clinton (Wednesday).
Doesn’t Biden deserve a little better treatment?
After all, he’s still president, and Harris owes him a lot. Thanks to him, she didn’t have to run in the primaries, and his late exit from the race all but sealed Harris’ nomination.
The least Harris could have done was give Biden a more prominent speech. He could have delivered it on Thursday, for example.
No such luck.
Biden doesn’t even stay in Chicago
After his speech, Biden leaves the city as quickly as possible and goes on vacation in California instead.
Biden’s quick exit could indicate several things, but perhaps a mixture of both.
First, Biden harbors some (deserved) bitterness over the fact that those in the party he thought were his friends ultimately abandoned him, including Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Second, Harris is aware that Biden has become politically radioactive and wants to create as much separation as possible between the two since they (supposedly) still govern the country together.
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I predicted Biden’s obvious decline long before the Democrats and other media outlets did. And I think Biden has done the country a disservice by delaying his exit from the race and preventing a real fight for the nomination.
However, it seems likely that Biden’s family, advisers and friends – even Harris – did not tell him the hard truth that he must finish his term long before he did.
Democrats, especially Harris, must know how hard this has been for Biden. The least they could have done was show him real respect on the way out the door.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques
