I don't know where they're going to go, but it's increasingly obvious to everyone that they're going to have to go somewhere. After President Biden's recent cognitive train wreck that occurred in front of a cringing national audience on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live program, it's hard to imagine a political path forward for a presidency pummeled by poor messaging, poor management, and poor leadership.
Make no mistake, the trip to Kimmel was a coordinated effort on the part of the Democrat Party's leadership and their sympathetic mouthpieces across the media landscape. Kimmel is pro-Biden. Kimmel's audience is pro-Biden. Kimmel's topics would be pro-Biden, or at a minimum they would be careful set-ups intended to allow a flailing president to crank a grounder off the tee into the outfield for at least a single. Instead Biden managed the nearly-impossible – a tee ball strikeout. Stammering, stumbling, faltering, and failing to offer any kind of reasonable evidence that he has a handle on the myriad of issues facing our people.
They won't admit it publicly, but this performance was devastating to any Democrats still hopeful that Biden could somehow resurrect himself and his staggeringly low public confidence before the midterm elections. For the first sit-down interview he has had in months, Biden's team intentionally chose an ally like Kimmel who could ensure any awkward moments, missteps, or mistakes could be batted away with comedic relief.
But rather than polishing the image of a beleaguered president, Kimmel ended up inadvertently pitying the ineptness of a doddering old man.
"It's like you're playing Monopoly with somebody who won't pass Go or won't follow any of the rules, and how do you ever make any progress if they're not following the rules?" Kimmel consoled, before absolving Biden of his own failures. "What a terrible job you have. I'm glad you're doing it, but boy oh boy, does this seem like a bad gig."
This wasn't the puffing up of a president, it was the tacit admission of utter presidential failure while desperately attempting to convince people it's not his fault. No matter the public face they put on, anxious Democrats heading into November are having to come to grips with the fact that this is their message:
- The catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan
- The record high, triple-digit fill-ups at the gas pumps
- The humanitarian nightmare at the border
- The staggering inflation costing Americans nearly $400 more a month than last year
- The inaccurate remarks that consistently rattle global diplomacy and spur repeated White House clarifications
…all of that is the fault of fussy and noncompliant Republicans.
That doesn't even sell them, so they know it's not going to sell Americans. Which is exactly why it's increasingly obvious barring some political cataclysm, progressives know they can't ride Biden beyond 2022. If you start paying attention, you'll see the telltale signs.
Vice President Harris just spoke at the politically significant fundraising dinner for South Carolina Democrats a day before their statewide convention in Columbia. The state's only Democrat Congressman Jim Clyburn bragged that Harris's appearance, not Joe Biden's, "has made us valuable."
The New York Times, an all-but-official publication of the Democratic National Committee, recently ran an eye-opening article entitled, "Should Biden Run in 2024? Democratic Whispers of ‘No' Start to Rise." In it, the Times quotes more than one party official calling for Biden to get out of the way, including DNC member Steve Simeonidis:
"To say our country was on the right track would flagrantly depart from reality," Simeonidis admitted, saying Biden, "should announce his intent not to seek re-election in '24 right after the midterms."
Party heavyweights like the man who made Barack Obama, strategist David Axelrod, sounds defeatist even if diplomatic:
"The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue."
This isn't conservative messaging. This isn't Republican sabotage. It's also not something that a White House visit from pop singers, or a tour of late-night talk shows is going to resolve. The problem the left has is that the country sees clearly what they have to offer – a hapless old man, a hopeless presidency, and a startling realization that there's no one on deck who can step in.
