I read the excerpts from Kamala Harris’s new book “107 Days” with astonishment. What she said about everyone in the administration deciding it was “Joe and Jill’s” decision about whether to run again took my breath away. Here’s why.
A Selfish Decision
This assumption removed the decision about the Democratic candidate for president from the hands and votes of the people and put it squarely on the egos and fears of two people. How can anyone call that selfish decision Democratic?
No one in the White House seems to have sat down together or with the First Couple to make this decision. It wasn’t up to them. The American people should have had a voice. Even worse, it didn’t occur to anyone in the White House that this idea demonstrated exactly the kind of elite Deep State thinking that the MAGA people find offensive.
The Benefits of an Open Primary
Now, I am very far from MAGA but even I find “it’s up to Joe and Jill” offensive. Millions of us would have seized the opportunity to choose the Democratic candidate in an open primary. That would have been productive and exciting.
In addition, an open primary would have had multiple advantages for the Democrats:
- The voters could have had a say in who the candidate would be. That process might actually have resulted in a man or woman who was young, vital, full of ideas, and eager to fight.
It would have provided the news media with grist for their ever-grinding daily news machine. During this period, the only party generating news was the Republican Party.
Thus, they churned out news and information about the Republicans every day and night while the Democrats were silent and invisible. It began to seem like the only people in America running for the presidency were Republicans and thus a Republican President was inevitable.- The Democrats would have had a mechanism for introducing their bench strength: the roster of candidates who were qualified, experienced and eager to run.
- The party would have also had the opportunity to present their ideas and policies to the American public and measure their response ahead of the general election.
- An open primary would have energized the Democratic base by showing that the party was full of fight. Instead, we got silence and invisibility from the entire party, which didn’t want to contradict Joe and Jill.
Violating the Logan Act
Worse, while Joe Biden’s “people” kept him off-stage to protect him from verbal slips and physical falls, the Republicans were out talking to foreign leaders. The minority party took charge of representing the United States on the world stage, even though they had no standing to do so. In fact, their actions violated the Logan Act, a U.S. federal statute that prohibits unauthorized American citizens from negotiating with foreign governments in relation to disputes involving the United States. But the Democrats handed them an opening and they grabbed it.
Junk-Yard Dog Needed
It is pointless to ask why the Democrats never considered any of these lost opportunities. Or why they might have thought the advantages of an open primary less important than deferring to the decision of an elderly couple. But one might fairly note that any party willing to concede the battle to the opposition doesn’t deserve to win.
We needed a junk-yard dog to fight for the party back then and we need one even more now. Fortunately, we have two: California Governor Gavin Newsome and Illinois Governor JB Pritzger.
They are doing a good job, but we also need more. We need the entire Democratic Party to be up and active in a solid front. Yet, except for a few senators and members of Congress, they remain quiet and invisible.
Yes, I know that’s scary., particularly after the murder of Charle Kirk. And I know I’m asking others to be courageous when I don’t have to step up and do the same. But if they don’t, the Republicans will win the midterm elections and the presidential election in 2028. Now that’s something to scare us all. Decisions, like elections, have consequences.
