Changing the Titanic’s captain doesn’t alter its course
Democrats seem to forget, but changing the Titanic’s captain doesn’t equate to changing its course.
It’s called the Biden-Harris administration for a reason. It’s still the Titanic, there’s still an iceberg ahead, and it’s still steaming straight for it.
To understand how little has really changed in the 2024 presidential race, let us first dispel the myths that Democrats are trying to spin into facts. First, Biden did not withdraw from this race. He was forced out. It played out over almost a month, from his June 27 debate debacle to his July 21 exit.
It not only played out in private but in public through commentators, celebrities, the establishment media and elected Democrats. In fact, the public element of his ouster was a choreographed and coordinated strategy.
Second, Biden wasn’t ousted because of any disability he had. He was dumped because he was losing consistently and comprehensively to Trump: head-to-head, in a five-way race, and in the battleground states.
Any Biden disability had been known for months (if not years) to the Democratic elite who successfully jettisoned him. What they hadn’t known was that Trump’s lead would be so resilient; Biden’s real disability was his inability to eliminate that. Had Biden been winning, he still would be atop Democrats’ ticket.
Third, Biden wasn’t losing because of his disabilities, he was losing because of his policies. Biden’s disabilities could be (and for a long time were) hidden and denied; his failed policies could not.
While elite Democrats coordinated and called for Biden’s removal, not one word has been said about the policies that doomed him. Instead of changing the message, Democrats have opted simply to change the messenger.
This brings us to where we are now: Vice President Kamala Harris, the anointed, but not nominated, top of Democrats’ new ticket. Democrats believe with this change, there’s nowhere to go but up. Americans shouldn’t be so sure.
Harris is arguably a worse candidate than Biden — and Democrats are the ones who have made that argument.
Despite holding every advantage in 2020’s Democratic field, Harris washed out in 2019: Not only did she not get to the finish line; she didn’t get to the starting line. Finishing closer to last than to finishing at all from 2020’s unmemorable, innumerable field, she left the race on Dec. 3, just after Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and just ahead of former Obama HUD secretary Julian Castro.
Joe Biden picked her to be his running mate on these credentials because Harris posed no threat of overshadowing him. As Americans discovered over the next four years, this was no mean feat, considering how small a shadow Biden himself cast and how rarely he cast it.
In the administration, Harris had four main jobs.
One was to lead on abortion. While Harris has given many speeches on the topic, she has no tangible accomplishment to point to.
Another was voting rights. Again, while talking on the issue, the legislation that she backed, The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, died in the Senate in the face of bipartisan opposition.
The third was immigration. On this, Harris led from the rear. It took her months to get to the Mexican border. Her visit there — her only one — and to Central America did not go well, being mostly memorable for an interview in which she minimized the illegal immigration problem.
The Border Patrol union criticized her contribution to the border crisis:
“If you were given a job 2 years ago with the explicit goal of reducing illegal immigration, and then you sit around and do nothing while illegal immigration explodes to levels never seen before, you should be fired and replaced. Period.”
According to reports, the last two border patrol chiefs claim that Harris has never talked to them.
The fourth job the administration gave Harris was to largely keep out of sight. While her greatest success has come in this task, it has been anything but a complete victory. Harris has been dogged by reports that question her effectiveness as well as her treatment of her staff.
The Biden-Harris administration is not poorly rated in the polls because of the order in which it lists Biden and Harris, but because of the policies it has followed. The proof is in the polling.
According to Real Clear Politics’ July 29 average of national polling, Biden’s overall job approval rating is 41.3 percent (ironically higher than when he announced his withdrawal).
Bad as this is, it still surpasses his performance rating on all the top issues Real Clear Politics follows: the economy (38.9 percent), foreign policy (36.7 percent), inflation (34.5 percent), crime (37.8 percent), the Hamas-Israel war (29.4 percent), handling of the Russia-Ukraine war (40.7 percent) and immigration (the issue Harris was assigned to oversee: 32.6 percent).
In other words, the person deemed unable to continue and ousted by his party scores ahead of the policies his administration has pursued. For those seeking to disassociate Harris from the policies of the administration she has seconded, and whose banner she now holds, let her explain which of these policies she would change and how.
Democrats kicked Harris off the Titanic’s bridge, and now they want her to steer the ship. A word of advice: Don’t stop lowering the lifeboats just yet. Captain Biden may be gone, but the course remains the same: hard left.
J.T. Young was a professional staffer in the House and Senate from 1987-2000, served in the Department of Treasury and Office of Management and Budget from 2001-2004, and was director of government relations for a Fortune 20 company from 2004-2023.