Biden and the Democratic tightrope
A day or two following the presidential debate in which Joe Biden performed so miserably, JoJo Burgess, the mayor of “little” Washington and a delegate to August’s Democratic national convention, spoke to a group of Democrats in the northern panhandle of West Virginia.
Burgess, who appeared in a Biden television ad earlier in the campaign, boasted that he has been a Biden fan since a “five-minute” meet-and-greet several years ago.
Biden was his kind of guy, said Burgess, who posted an online video of his talk. Biden was personable, compassionate, empathetic, and strong for organized labor and working people, Burgess said. (The mayor is a member of the United Steelworkers of America.)
Four years ago, Democrats worked hard on Biden’s behalf to defeat Donald Trump, Burgess continued. The result was Biden’s election and the restoration of “dignity and respect” to the White House.
Nothing that happened on the debate stage in Atlanta altered the fundamentals of a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024, Burgess said. “A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for Donald Trump,” he said. “A vote for Joe Biden is a vote for America, for democracy.”
In summoning his audience to battle, Burgess said the times required that rank-and-file Democrats rise to the occasion. “We got to rally ourselves” and “push” Joe Biden “across the finish line” in November, the mayor said. “Let’s get to work.”
In short, despite the president’s debate failure against Trump, Burgess isn’t budging. He’s got the president’s back, now and always.
At least several other local Democratic convention delegates I spoke with are similarly committed to Biden, whose halting performance against Trump reinforced, critics maintained, voter concerns about the president’s age – he’s 81- his current capacity, and his ability to serve four more years under the stresses and strains of the presidency.
Westmoreland County commissioner Ted Kopas and Bibiana Boerio, a former Democratic candidate for a seat in the House of Representatives, expressed confidence in Biden.
Both pointed out that Trump uttered one falsehood after another during the debate. Boerio was especially exercised that the media was paying so much attention to Biden that Trump’s monumental shortcomings were being ignored – once again, she said.
Boerio also raised concerns about last week’s Supreme Court decision granting the president broad authority to ignore the law in the performance of official duties. Like every sensible American, Boerio worries about Trump’s authoritarian mind-set.
As for nominating someone other than Biden for president at the convention, Kopas and Boerio are opposed, hands-down. Boerio raised the specter of internal party divisions if Biden drops out and attempts are made to sideline the first woman and minority vice president, Kamala Harris, as the presidential nominee.
Partisans are frequently the least edifying when it comes to sober-minded political assessments. Focused, in this instance, on the threat posed by Trump to the rule of law, to American political traditions, and to the future of American democracy itself, Democratic activists appear blind to average voter concerns about the president’s age and his physical and mental sharpness.
The president, meanwhile, is hanging tough. He posted this message hours before the 4th of July: “I know the past few days have been tough. I’m sure you’re getting a lot of questions. I’m sure many of you have questions as well.
“So, let me say this as clearly and simply as I can: I’m running. I’m the Democratic Party’s nominee. No one is pushing me out.”
The decision to run or not to run rests with Biden. If they’re anything like Burgess, Kopas, and Boerio, it’s a fantasy to imagine that Democratic convention delegates will do anything other than nominate the president on the first ballot.
Absent a decision by Biden, it will take a cannon blast to wrest delegates away from the president. Only the party’s biggest cannons – Obama, Schumer, the Clintons, and Pelosi – can do the trick, and then who knows?
Still, Biden may right the ship himself, beginning this weekend with a scheduled interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News. The president needs to demonstrate in the next several days and weeks his overall fitness; he needs to change the campaign narrative.
But time is running short, both for the convention and the election.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.