If I might share some of the hope that belied my prediction (mostly lifted from the Pod Save America boys) that Biden would ultimately withdraw from the race (I think he would resign, too-it’s the only way to be seen as a kingmaker, but that remains to be seen), it’s that Harris or Dem X is going to have the opportunity to have all of the media’s attention. I share with @Bozo_Casanova in an affinity for a Harris/Whitmer ticket (though he may have moved on by now), really like a Harris/Beshear ticket, and frankly all of the versions discussed are kind of exciting. I’m even onboard for a blitz primary, and if it ends up Newsome or whoever I think they keep the Biden 2020 coalition together and reinvigorate it with some the 70% of Americans who know Biden is too old.
And isn’t that what Democrats are begging for, anyway? Give us something to excite us?
I’ll add that (and I think it’s something @mdmost wrote about ten pages ago that started me thinking about this but I may owe the idea to another poster) I think we are attributing a great deal of credit to Biden for programs passed under his administration that are the culmination of lots of Democratic wish list items kind of coming together at once.
The efforts made toward green energy and infrastructure are big successes, I’ve read, but in the early going I don’t see the results (which is fine, I’m glad the government is making plans that might not come to fruition for a decade or two) and it seems like it’s bad manners to judge them with a healthy skepticism until there’s a real improvement in those areas.
Anyway, my point is we may, ten years hence, look back at the Biden presidency and wonder why we were fucking around with solar panels and bridges while gender and minority rights became increasingly under threat and too little was done to address the anti-democratic practices of the GOP.