Biden's woes grow

And the hard left's support for him explained

A week ago, things were looking pretty good for Joe Biden’s chances of being the Democrats’ nominee for president. His press conference performance wasn’t great, but was good enough that the publicly-stated consensus among Democrats was “follow it up with more acceptable performances” not “say goodnight, Joe.”

At least as importantly, the party’s hard left was standing solidly behind Biden. Bernie Sanders refused to participate in discussions with Senate Democrats about trying to push Biden off the ticket. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared the issue of removal “closed.” Congressional blacks, led by Maxine Waters, were pledging their continued allegiance to Biden.

Biden’s “hard no” to calls for him to bow out seemed to be sticking.

But in less than a week, things have taken a dramatic turn against Biden. It started with the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump. The former president emerged from that awful event with sympathy and an iconic image. Biden’s plan to defeat Trump by casting him, in effect, as the devil no longer seemed viable. Now, that rhetoric would have to be toned down. If not, it might well be counterproductive.

There was also Biden’s interview with NBC’s Lester Holt. I didn’t see it but from what I’ve read, the interview didn’t go very well for Biden. Rather than building on the slight momentum of his press conference, the president seemed to take a step back.

The Republican National Convention has also set Biden back. The GOP is managing to present a unified front to America. J.D. Vance eschewed the usual vice presidential nomination acceptance speech approach of lambasting the incumbent, opting instead to introduce himself to the electorate as a down-to-earth Midwesterner and grateful American success story.

I’ve watched every national convention since 1960. After a while, you get a sense of which ones have the sweet smell of future success and which ones don’t. This RNC has it. (I assume Trump won’t lose it with his speech tonight.)

Meanwhile comes word that Biden has tested positive for Covid-19. This development could scarcely have come at a worse time for the president.

The contrast between the two candidates has become even more stark. A healthy-looking nominee presiding over a happy, harmonious convention versus a sick president under siege by his own party.

No wonder the siege has intensified. Party big-wigs who were hedging their bets are now meeting with Biden to tell him he can’t win and should think seriously about quitting. And now, Biden’s financial support seems to be drying up, as some major donors say they won’t contribute to his campaign. (They are bluffing, I’m pretty sure, but the threats are a very bad sign for Biden, nonetheless.)

The only bright spot for the president is the continued support he’s receiving from the hard left, at least in public. As long as he has that support, Biden might hang in there and run out the clock.

Accordingly, I want to revisit the question I asked here: Why is the hard left sticking with Biden?

I was at a loss to answer that question. The best I could do was to speculate that the left’s loyalty was based on the fact that Biden has been very good to the left and, if reelected, would continue to be. This, I thought, was the simplest explanation.

Now, however, we have a simpler one along the same lines: political bribery (or horse trading, if you prefer). According to the Washington Post, Bernie Sanders met with top Biden aides and told them the president should revive his candidacy by emphasizing Sanders’ pet projects like expanding Social Security benefits and eliminating medical debt.

Two days later, at a rally in Michigan, endorsed both giveaways. Sanders immediately tweeted his applause.

Since then, Biden has spoken in favor of more hard-left agenda items, including term limits and an enforceable ethics code for Supreme Court Justices. There are also reports that he’s weighing whether to call for a constitutional amendment that would end broad immunity for presidents and other constitutional officeholders.

Clearly, the hard-left sees Biden’s crisis as an opportunity to extract concessions. Desperate to stay in the game, Biden is more than willing to grant them. This, after all, is a politician who has always been eager to advocate that which will best serve his short-term interests.

But Biden isn’t the only opportunist in the picture. Kamala Harris could pledge to advance the Sanders/Ocasio Cortez agenda, too.

Therefore, the hard-left’s continued support for Biden is not assured.