Kamala Harris Critiques Biden’s 2024 Reelection Decision

Kamala Harris Critiques Biden’s 2024 Reelection Decision

Kamala Harris characterized Joe Biden‘s decision to run for reelection in 2024, and remain in the race, as “recklessness,” writing in her upcoming book that the choice “should have been more than a personal decision.”

Reflections on Leadership and Responsibility

In an excerpt in The Atlantic from her upcoming book 107 Days, Harris wrote, “It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.” We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized. Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness. The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.

However, she noted that she was in the “worst position to make the case that he should drop out.”

The Dilemma of Loyalty

“I knew it would come off to him as incredibly self-serving if I advised him not to run. He would see it as naked ambition, perhaps as poisonous disloyalty, even if my only message was: Don’t let the other guy win.

That said, Harris wrote that she did not see Biden as incapacitated.

Age and Capability

She wrote, “Many people want to spin up a narrative of some big conspiracy at the White House to hide Joe Biden’s infirmity.” Here is the truth as I lived it. Joe Biden was a smart guy with long experience and deep conviction, able to discharge the duties of president. On his worst day, he was more deeply knowledgeable, more capable of exercising judgment, and far more compassionate than Donald Trump on his best. But at 81, Joe got tired. That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles. I don’t think it’s any surprise that the debate debacle happened right after two back-to-back trips to Europe and a flight to the West Coast for a Hollywood fundraiser. I don’t believe it was incapacity. If I believed that, I would have said so. As loyal as I am to President Biden, I am more loyal to my country.

Critique of White House Support

In the excerpt, Harris also criticized the White House staff’s lack of defense of her when she came under criticism, including when she was dubbed “border czar” even though she had been tasked with trying to solve the root causes of migration to the United States.

“They had a huge comms team; they had Karine Jean-Pierre briefing in the pressroom every day,” she wrote. “But getting anything positive said about my work or any defense against untrue attacks was almost impossible.”

Future Aspirations

Harris is embarking on a book tour later this month and next. In announcing her decision not to run for governor of California next year, she said, “For now, my leadership — and public service — will not be in elected office.” She did not rule out a run for president in 2028.

Historical Context

It’s not entirely unusual, post-presidency, for a vice president to expose fissures with his or her boss or the White House staff. Mike Pence publicly broke with Donald Trump over the January 6th attack on the Capitol, when the president fomented anger of a riot that featured chants of “Hang Mike Pence.” There also were reportedly tensions between George W. Bush and Mike Pence, and Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

There were some calls for Biden to forgo a run for president, including from David Ignatius, The Washington Post columnist who had close ties to the White House and the president himself. At 81, Biden faced questions about his age throughout his campaign, but his decision to run cleared the field of serious challengers and he handily secured the delegates to win the Democratic nomination. His disastrous debate performance in June 2024 led to calls from prominent Democrats that he drop out. After about three weeks of refusing to do so, he eventually did.