Jenn and I have been \u201cbingeing\u201d the TV series\u00a0Designated Survivor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>The show first aired from 2016-2019, and is kind of a cross between two other shows of the early 2000\u2019s.\u00a0The West Wing\u00a0<\/em>was the political White House drama starring Martin Sheen as the President. The show aired for seven years (and helped me survive the George W Bush administration).\u00a0\u00a0Twenty-Four\u00a0<\/em>ran for nine years around the same time. It was an action drama where Kiefer Sutherland was an intelligence agent who broke every rule to save the Nation.\u00a0\u00a0A season spanned twenty-four hours, thus the name.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>I was (and still am) a\u00a0West Wing\u00a0<\/em>guy, not a\u00a0Twenty-Four\u00a0<\/em>guy, more interested in Aaron Sorkin\u2019s incredible dialogues, than the Fox<\/em> explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\u00a0Designated Survivor,\u00a0<\/em>Kiefer Sutherland returns as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development left out of the State of the Union address, when the Capitol is destroyed, along with the American government.\u00a0\u00a0By default he is the President, and faces all the challenges of rebuilding the federal system, finding the terrorists who destroyed the Capitol, and other crises.\u00a0\u00a0In this drama, FBI investigators work directly for the President, thus \u201cmarrying\u201d\u00a0West Wing\u00a0<\/em>drama with\u00a0Twenty Four<\/em>\u00a0action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n West Wing <\/em>quotes are still rife in our political life today. Forty through sixty year-old politicians and news commentators grew up watching the West Wing, <\/em>Democrat and Republican alike. In fact, one of the ways news commentators describe the current Biden dilemma, is that it isn\u2019t likely to create, \u201c\u2026 a West Wing <\/em>moment, when the Democrats come together to pick a new candidate\u2026\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But I heard an even more apt quote that applies to Biden on Designated Survivor <\/em>last night. The political operative on the show, said that, \u201cA crisis either lasts one news cycle or ten. If at lasts one cycle, we can move on. If it lasts ten, it will define your Presidency\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I hoped that the Biden campaign would work past the incredibly bad debate performance of just last week (believe that, it was only a week ago!). There was a clear strategy: get the President out; to rallies, interviews, unscripted settings. Prove that he\u2019s not the \u201clost old man\u201d that we saw on the Atlanta debate stage. But they didn\u2019t do that. Biden did a couple rallies, but then \u201csheltered in place\u201d either at Camp David or the White House. Is this because he\u2019s developing plans, or because he really is the \u201clost old man\u201d? <\/p>\n\n\n\n This crisis lasted more than just a news cycle. The question of Joe Biden\u2019s fitness even survived Monday\u2019s outrageous Supreme Court ruling that Donald Trump was virtually immune from any criminal prosecution, and the Fourth of July holiday. Here on the Fifth, it\u2019s still leading all of the news shows, not just on Fox, but on CNN, MSNBC and the big three broadcast networks as well. It has \u201cdefined\u201d the 2024 Presidential race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I still believe that this is not \u201cour\u201d decision.\u00a0\u00a0Only Joe Biden and those around him know his real condition.\u00a0\u00a0But they are faced with one stark fact. He\u2019s an eighty-one year old man, running for four more years in the hardest job in the world.\u00a0\u00a0The \u201cprima-facie\u201d case is that he is already too old, and will be far-far too old, by the time 2028 rolls around.\u00a0\u00a0And, even if he just had a \u201cbad night\u201d at the debate, it\u2019s likely there will be more bad nights in the future, not fewer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the debate, I vowed that I wouldn\u2019t jump on the band wagon of those that want Biden to retire. But here we are, with a crisis that extends a whole week, and seems to only be growing worse. I still feel that this truly is Biden\u2019s call, not ours. But I would be remiss if I didn\u2019t go the next step, and try to \u201cgame out\u201d what happens if Joseph Robinette Biden, 46th<\/sup> President of the United States, determines not to run for a second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It has happened before. In the pivotal year of 1968, Lyndon Johnson determined not to run for a second term in the White House. We were in the middle of the Vietnam War, with the Democratic Party completely split over the issue. Johnson was faced with fierce opposition, first by Senator Gene McCarthy and his \u201cChildren\u2019s Crusade\u201d. In the New Hampshire primary, McCarthy came within seven percent of the serving President, sending a clear message to the White House. A few days later, Senator Robert Kennedy entered the race, further dividing the Democrats. Soon, Johnson withdrew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, his Vice President, Hubert Humphrey (of Minnesota) entered as Johnson\u2019s \u201cstand-in\u201d. The race soon came down to Kennedy versus Humphrey, and was leading to a split convention. But Kennedy was assassinated in June after winning the California primary, and while the Democrats nominated Humphrey for President, their convention in Chicago was completely divided by both opposition candidates and students marching (and being beaten by police) in the streets. Republican Richard Nixon ultimately won a narrow victory over Humphrey, and the course of the Nation was altered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Johnson pulled out of the race in March. If Biden were to pull out, it would be only weeks before a convention. All of the delegates are chosen, and the vast majority of them are pledged to vote for Joe Biden on the first ballot. There are several candidates (Moore, Buttigieg, Whitmer, Harris, Newsom, Warnock, Polis, Pritzker, Brashear, Shapiro, to name a few) who might consider running. Without a primary season to sort this out (our 2028 Democratic future) how would the Democratic Party not splinter by region, race, gender, or view?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The answer is that President Biden would have to \u201canoint\u201d a candidate, one who would not only win against Donald Trump in 2024, but likely govern until 2032. And that \u201canointed\u201d could only be the current Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. There are several reasons who Harris is the ONLY one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, Biden has already made the decision that Harris is prepared for the Presidency. It\u2019s the choice he made in 2020, and stood by for the past four years. And Harris has done everything to demonstrate that she is prepared to be President. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, there is a practical financial matter. Harris is the only other candidate that could collect on the Biden campaign war chest of hundreds of millions of dollars. That money was raised for the \u201cBiden-Harris\u201d campaign, not a \u201cgeneric Democrat\u201d campaign. Any other Democratic candidate would be so far behind Trump on the fundraising curve, that raising enough money would seem insurmountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And third, there is the reality of the makeup Democratic Party.\u00a0\u00a0There are two huge constituencies in the Party, women, and people of color.\u00a0\u00a0For the serving Vice President, a woman of color, to be passed over by a brokered Democratic Convention in August of the election year, particularly for a white male, virtually guarantees a split in the heart of the Party.\u00a0\u00a0At the least it would diminish turnout in this \u201cmargins\u201d election.\u00a0\u00a0At worst there could be an actual split or even a walkout.\u00a0\u00a0Like 1968, Chicago could prove to be another Democratic disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All in the face of the most important Presidential election since the election of 1864.\u00a0\u00a0Like that critical moment in the middle of the Civil War, the Nation is at a turning point.\u00a0\u00a0Will we be a Nation moving backwards (Project 2025) or a Nation moving forward?\u00a0\u00a0Will we turn to authoritarian leaders, or \u201cdouble-down\u201d on democracy?\u00a0\u00a0What is the future of the American experiment? And even more importantly, will we give Donald Trump, now immune from criminal prosecution as President, the power of the Presidency to alter our Nation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s Joe Biden\u2019s decision, but it will be America\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Wing Moment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Defining Biden<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
One Term Presidents<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2028 Campaign<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s Harris<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
America’s Choice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n