The Paris Olympics begin on July 26, and Democrats are ready. They've been performing mental gymnastics for the last month.
The party and its media allies deserve medals in political contortion. In the space of a few weeks, they've gone from saying that Joe Biden is the next FDR, to Biden is fine, how dare you question his age, to Biden is incapable of serving a second term, to Biden is a stubborn old man who will sink the party, to Biden is a demigod whose selflessness will be recalled for centuries.
Keeping up with the changing party line is exhausting. Not long ago, remember, it was considered a slur to suggest that Joe Biden was too old and infirm to be reelected president.
In June, when the Wall Street Journal published a detailed report on Biden's memory loss and confusion, the White House denounced the paper and its parent company. Biden's BFFs on MSNBC called the article "a Trump hit piece."
Days later, when videos circulated on social media of a stiff and vacant Biden visiting Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the images were "cheap fakes" made "in bad faith." The Washington Post published a story headlined "How Republicans Used Misleading Videos To Attack Biden in a 24-Hour Period." Misleading, indeed.
Then, on June 27, Biden debated Donald Trump. He gave the worst debate performance in American history. His condition was broadcast to the world. Trump's polling lead grew. And the message changed.
Democrats said that Biden would have to prove his viability. He couldn't. A follow-up interview with George Stephanopoulos went badly. A "big boy" press conference was cringe-inducing.
Calls for Biden to withdraw grew louder. Some came from the very people who had denounced questions about Biden's mental and physical capacities as partisan and ageist and ableist. "I hope he'll do the right thing and step aside," wrote New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. One New Yorker encountered Stephanopoulos on the street and recorded their brief conversation. The passerby asked about Biden. "I don't think he can serve four more years," Stephanopoulos said. Thank you, Captain Obvious.
Civil war broke out in the Democratic Party. The Congressional Black Caucus and the socialist "Squad" backed Biden; swing-state congressmen and senators called for him to make room for another nominee. Fundraising dried up. Nancy Pelosi worked against him behind the scenes. "Former president Barack Obama has told allies in recent days that President Biden's path to victory has greatly diminished and he thinks the president needs to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy," reported the Post on July 18. Three days later, Biden said that he would not accept the Democratic nomination. In a separate post, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
The spin did not stop. Between the debate and Biden's announcement, the president had been treated as a figure worthy of scrutiny, even contempt. Late-night comics, the Democratic Party's court jesters, mocked him. George Clooney, in the op-ed heard 'round the world, disclosed that Biden's frailty was real and unignorable and well known among high-level donors. Democrats preemptively had blamed Biden for losing to Trump in November and bringing congressional candidates down with him.
The anger, frustration, harsh words, and critical thinking ceased as soon as Biden said he was out. Suddenly the same man who had divided the Democrats bitterly, who had brought the party to the brink of defeat, who had delayed his exit until 107 days before the election, was treated as a hero and a legend. "History will honor him," posted Democratic strategist David Axelrod, who had pushed for over a year for Biden to retire. "President Biden, you have stepped into Washington's shoes," wrote one college professor in The Hill. The New York Times editorial board said that Biden "has placed the national interest above his own pride and ambition." It would be more accurate to say that Biden placed the Democratic interest above his own pride and ambition—and only when he had no other option.
Most floor routines last 90 seconds. The Democrats' wolf turns and aerial cartwheels will last through November. Harris was a political liability for Biden and his party. Her vice presidency has had no major accomplishments. Her approval rating starts off lower than Trump's. Harris last faced serious opposition in 2010, when she barely won the race for state attorney general in navy-blue California. Her 2020 presidential campaign collapsed before Iowa. She has no political base, no signature issue, is not part of a movement, and is best known for her word salads and very online fans.
These inconvenient details have been ignored or forgotten. Instead, an orgy of excitement has accompanied Harris's rise. With the efficiency of a Malenkov, she locked up the presumptive nomination within 48 hours of Biden's departure. Her ability to read off a TelePrompTer with an expression other than befuddlement has been rapturously received by her grateful party. Young and impressionable pundits speak of an "Obama moment," seemingly unaware that Barack Obama emerged as a star at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 and became, with the publication of The Audacity of Hope in 2006, a cultural phenomenon. In 2008 Obama filled an NFL stadium for his Greek-column acceptance speech. Harris has coconut tree memes.
The Democrats and the press may yet make Harris something special, something new. Friendly reporters are doing the grunt work of pretending that Harris had no role in the southern border crisis, revising years-old articles to spread the fiction that she was never called "border czar." No doubt they will also try to distance Harris from the 20 percent rise in prices during the Biden-Harris administration, from the ongoing wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and the Red Sea, and from the ongoing cover-up of Biden's infirmity. Perhaps they will succeed.
Harris's candidacy, after all, has knocked Donald Trump off the front page the first time in a decade. Her earned-media bounce has restored the presidential race to its pre-debate equilibrium: Trump leads, but it's close. Can Harris and the Democrats keep up the act? She's an alternate who finds herself the star of the team. She's facing a political gold medalist. In this competition, there's no room for error. And the judges? They can be harsh.