DNC Members Privately Doubting Joe Biden: No 'Evidence as to Why We Should Be Hopeful'
It’s hard to find the upside for President Joe Biden here.
Publicly, Democrat confidence in the incumbent president is tepid, at best, despite whatever company line that is being spewed forth by party stalwarts.
Privately? Things could be even grimmer for Biden when it comes to his own party, at least according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal reports that Democrats, while keeping private about said consternation, are growing increasingly worried.
However “they are resigned to the idea that [Biden] isn’t going anywhere, and there is no viable Plan B.”
The Journal cited a number of key extenuating factors working against Biden — and some of the issues won’t be so easily addressed.
While certain American maladies, like the economy, inflation and immigration, could ostensibly be fixed with some better policymaking, Biden is grappling with a number of issues that will only get worse with the passage of time.
Issues like Biden’s age, temperament, and general incompetence are not so easily fixable, and Democrats are privately taking notice.
“Conversations with more than a dozen leading Democrats revealed the pervasive, but mostly private, sense of worry that hangs over the race,” the WSJ noted. “Some compare this moment to the 2016 cycle when many top Democrats brushed aside Hillary Clinton’s vulnerabilities only to watch her ultimately lose to Trump.
“But this is in many ways a different case — a sitting president facing clear frustration from voters, including those within his own party.”
“It is a little bit like your grandfather running the company and you know that he’s at a point now where the heirs could suffer value if we don’t change management at the top,” Philip Levine, a former Democratic mayor from Florida, told the Journal.
Levine added: “And this is very difficult. How do we get grandpa to relinquish the CEO role?”
One unnamed Democratic National Committee member told the Journal: “It would be irresponsible for us to not be concerned at this point. People can be hopeful about what the result is going to be. But we don’t have any evidence as to why we should be hopeful.
“The polling is bad. The approval ratings are bad. We know about concerns about both the president’s age and about the vice president if she were to take over.”
It is worth noting that while Biden the candidate may be getting soured on, Biden the idea still appears to have some favor within his party.
“I want to see Bidenism continue but I think the best way to make sure that happens is to perhaps have a different candidate than Joe Biden,” the unnamed DNC member said.
Perhaps turning up the temperature on Biden and his administration a bit, this WSJ article comes on the heels of a number of pundits suggesting that the Democrats are preparing a replacement plan for the octogenarian-in-chief.
One popular name being bandied about is that of former first lady Michelle Obama, though there has been no official suggestion of that.
Another name being pushed is that of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, though he too has largely deflected on that topic.
Regardless, for now, it appears Democrats will continue to offer their full-throated support of President Biden.
At least, they will until the wheels fall off — and with the way things are trending, that could be sooner rather than later.
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