‘Giving up is unforgivable’, Biden tells demoralised Democrats

Washington: President Joe Biden hit all the right notes in his first address to the nation after Kamala Harris’ crushing election defeat.

He praised his vice president for running “an inspiring campaign” and described her as someone with a “backbone like a ramrod” and “true character”.

President Joe Biden after speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington.Credit: AP

He also vowed to ensure the peaceful transfer of power, repeating the message he often conveyed when he was campaigning against Donald Trump: “You can’t love your country only when you win.”

And he urged demoralised Democrats to “keep the faith” - even as some have started attributing Harris’ loss to Biden’s decision to stay in the race as long as he did.

“Setbacks are unavoidable, but giving up is unforgivable,” said America’s consoler-in-chief, whose tragedy-steeped life has been a defining feature of his presidency.

“A defeat does not mean we are defeated. We lost this battle, but the America of our dreams is asking you to get back up.”

It was an uplifting and gracious speech for a president who had long insisted he was the only person who could beat Trump, only to be pushed out of the race thanks to the one thing he could not control: his age.

And while it’s questionable that he could have won again given his cognitive decline, there is no doubt that in the key battlegrounds that decided this election, Harris underperformed compared to her boss’s vote share years ago.

This helped Trump sweep Pennsylvania – where “Scranton Joe” with his union roots remains a popular a figure among many working-class voters – along with the other two “blue wall” states that Biden won in 2020: Michigan and Wisconsin.

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers her concession speech.Credit: AP

Trump also regained Georgia, which Biden flipped in 2020, and retained North Carolina.

In the wake of such a resounding defeat, Democrats have embarked on the usual recriminations as they struggle to grasp the reality of what happened.

Some have directed their anger at Biden, suggesting he set up Harris for failure for not standing aside sooner, which they claim would have given her more time to make a winning case, or given the party the chance to have a proper primary process.

“He and his staff have done an enormous amount of damage to this country,” Jim Manley, a former top aide to one-time Senate majority leader Harry Reid, told Politico.

Others blame the Harris campaign, saying that a lack of communication and co-ordination with local party organisers contributed to her loss.

Donald Trump celebrates at his victory event with daughter-in-law Lara Trump (left) and his wife Melania.Credit: AP

“Talk to us a little bit. Give us a little bit more resources. Show us some respect. Didn’t happen,” Philadelphia Democratic Chair and former congressman Bob Brady told NBC10.

And some, such as progressive stalwart Bernie Sanders, blamed the organisational wing of the party, saying it “should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working-class people would find that the working class has abandoned them”.

“First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and black workers as well,” Sanders said in a scathing statement.

In turn, Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison hit out at Sanders, saying on X: “This is straight up BS”.

“Biden was the most pro-worker president of my lifetime – saved union pensions, created millions of good paying jobs and even marched in a picket line,” he said.

Many things can be true at once.

Yes, Biden was too old for another four years and struggled to articulate his legislative achievements, allowing Trump’s false claims of a decimated economy to become baked in for many voters.

What’s more, he did not inspire young people to turn up in force.

But Harris, for her part, entered a truncated race with an even worse approval rating than Biden. Shewas unable to separate herself from the perceived failures of the administration she had been part of for the last four years, from immigration to Gaza.

And yes, Sanders is right: many working-class voters just didn’t feel like the party was speaking to them, whereas Trump’s big strength has always been his ability to tap into the fears and concerns of people who genuinely believe their country is slipping away from them: economically, culturally, and racially.

As the soul-searching and recriminations continue, Biden’s “keep the faith” advice for demoralised Democrats might be easier said than done.

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