The questions about Joe Biden's fitness for office have been growing with Republicans and independents and even the mainstream media.
Among top Democrats, there is still full-throated support for the president, at least, in front of the cameras. But now, leading Democrats are looking at Biden's poll numbers in their states and are beginning to give voice to their worries.
“I’m extremely concerned,” said Mayor Van Johnson of Savannah, Ga. “President Biden is a man of great character. Certainly, he’s a president of great accomplishments. But that is not translating to southeast Georgia.”
Johnson thinks the Biden campaign's bland assurances that once it becomes clear that the choice will be between him and Donald Trump, voters will no longer see the race as a referendum on Biden.
Johnson isn't buying that argument.
He called the choice argument “a passive strategy” and said the enthusiasm gap between the parties favored Republicans by a wide margin.
“I don’t see any passion, any excitement, nothing,” he said. “It might be a situation of too little, too late."
For some reason, the Biden campaign has felt no urgency to create state organizations. He finally hired some top staffers in three battleground states last week but top state party officials are concerned because congressional candidates are running ahead of Biden, drawing more support than the president.
Obviously, it should be the other way around. Any president who has to ride the coattails of down-ballot candidates is a probable loser.
These Democrats fear that the Biden campaign is late in building a strong organization in the handful of states that are likely to determine next year’s presidential election. They point to polling numbers showing Mr. Biden lagging far behind Democratic candidates for Congress in those states and struggling among key groups of voters, including Black and Latino Americans.
In Arizona, Democratic polling has found Mr. Biden losing Hispanic voters to former President Donald J. Trump in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and represents more than 60 percent of voters in the state. In Michigan, where Mr. Biden’s approval rating is a striking 15 percentage points behind that of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a fellow Democrat, he has lost ground with Black and Arab American voters. And in Georgia, officials say the Biden economic message has not broken through to voters, in part because voters have seen Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, take credit for many of the new projects in the state.
It's an unprecedented situation. Several Democratic candidates are waiting in the wings ready to announce. They have shadow campaign organizations and are quietly raising money.
But they don't dare step into the light and even acknowledge a campaign. The last thing any of these candidates like California Governor Gavin Newsom or Vice President Kamala Harris needs is to be accused by their fellow Democrats of undermining a sitting president.
The only Democrat who doesn't care if he undermines Biden is Rep. Dean Phillips, who says he's running for president.
Joe Biden is asking voters to let him field the nuclear football until he’s 86, which is an obvious political vulnerability. Yet many Democrats fear that acknowledging this in a voice louder than a library whisper would help Donald Trump and damage their inevitable 2024 nominee. Rep. Dean Phillips has no qualms about weakening Mr. Biden. “He’s going to lose anyway,” the Minnesota Democrat says. “I don’t see any way for Biden to beat Trump in any circumstance whatsoever.” The people truly undermining Mr. Biden are the ones “propagating this delusion that he can be the next president.”
This is true. Biden's worst enemies are his closest aides who see the president's looming defeat as clearly as Phillips but keep telling Biden that things will turn around once this happens or that happens. It's a hard thing to deny oneself a seat at the table and tell the boss the truth.
That's why it's not going to happen that way. Instead, it will take a delegation of leading Democrats to approach Biden and show him the cold, hard numbers predicting his inevitable defeat. No sentimentality. No regrets. These politicians are professionals, as is Biden, and can lay out a case showing a Democratic Party catastrophe if he's on the ballot in November.
When might this happen? Joe Biden is in no danger of losing a caucus or a primary. So any effort to get Biden to face reality and bow out of the race will happen independently of the political process.
From the party's perspective, it would be best if Biden retired and Kamala Harris took over the presidency. That might forestall other candidates from entering the race and would unite the party behind her.
I would think some scenario involving Biden resigning and Harris stepping forward would happen prior to Super Tuesday in March.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member