Daniel Henninger
WSJ, July 13, 2022
“… a responsible party leadership would have hedged this clear national risk by nominating a strong vice-presidential candidate able to step in if necessary”
It’s time to board a sinking ship— Joe Biden’s presidency.
The New York Times reported that its poll with Siena College finds 64% of Democrats, not even waiting for the midterm election results, want their candidate in 2024 to be someone other than the president. That famous Democratic youth vote? Under 30, they’re down on Joe at a 94% rate.
Below this thin ice is the measured sentiment that more than 7 in 10 Americans say the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction.
With the probably pointless caveat that things can change in politics, this means Mr. Biden is effectively a lame-duck president. If he runs, there will be a primary challenge, as there was in 1980 for Jimmy Carter.
Two Democratic governors, California’s Gavin Newsom and Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker, are already circling. RootsAction, a group aligned with Bernie Sanders, is planning a #DontRunJoe campaign. When Mr. Biden visited Cleveland last week to tout his economic accomplishments, the party’s candidate for U.S. Senate, Rep. Tim Ryan, and its candidate for governor, Nan Whaley, said scheduling conflicts prevented them from joining him.
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