President Kamala? Democrats could put her in the Oval Office before election day

Now that Joe Biden’s re-election bid has been quashed, it has created an issue that seemed unthinkable just a few weeks ago, writes James Morrow.

Now that Joe Biden’s re-election bid has been quashed by what can only be described as a palace coup, how long it will be before senior Democrats decide to take the next step and install Kamala Harris as president?

If it sounds like a fanciful thought, consider this.

Not even three months ago, suggesting that Joe Biden did not have the mental sharpness to make it through a presidential campaign – let alone another four years as president – was enough to attract charges of spreading conspiracy theories and “misinformation.”

Now, as with so many things this decade, what was once called “misinformation” is now accepted truth.

And while Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race solves the problem of his candidacy, it does nothing about the problem of his remaining presidency.

US Vice President Kamala Harris greeting staff at campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. Picture: by Erin Schaff/ AFP

Consider this: It is now just a little six months until Inauguration Day, 2025, no matter who wins what is shaping up to be a Trump-Harris contest.

That is an eternity at a time when there seem to be, as the vile Russian revolutionary Lenin put it, “weeks when decades happen”.

Even without Biden being knocked out for several days by a bout of Covid, on his current trajectory it is not unreasonable to ask whether or not the president will soon be even capable of fulfilling his duties as commander in chief.

A frail Joe Biden stepping off Air Force One shortly before announcing his withdrawal from the presidential race. Picture: Kent Nishimura / AFP

So why not let Harris run, as she is fond of saying, unburdened by what has been?

This week the president’s official White House schedule is blank — even with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu coming to town, at a time when the entire Middle East is one stray spark away from conflagration.

The president, or rather his team, have also cancelled nine trips that were scheduled over the next two weeks, including a visit to Houston to discuss hurricane recovery efforts.

This is the same president who partially blamed last month’s woeful debate performance on “jet lag”, despite returning from Europe a full 12 days prior to the event.

Donald Trump had Covid, he was regularly photographed working at the Walter Reed Medical Centre. (Photo by Tia DUFOUR / The White House / AFP)

Democrats will surely be thinking that the question of how Biden can still serve as president if he can’t even act as candidate will remain a drag on Harris’ candidacy.

Were Biden to go entirely on the basis of his medical condition, Harris would suddenly have all the advantages of incumbency – not just Air Force One but the authority of office and, in our diversity obsessed world, the status of “first black female president”.

US Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she boards Air Force Two prior to departure from Bucharest. While her performance as vice president has been mixed at best, she has never blamed it on jet lag. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFP

But at the moment, Harris runs as a vice president in an administration meandering under the cloud of three and a half years of official lies about the president’s health.

Remember, in the space of four weeks we have come from “the President is fine” to “the President has announced he is pulling out his re-election bid via a statement on X that was a surprise even to most White House staff”.

Is it that fanciful an idea to suggest the same Democrat party power brokers who foisted Biden on the American people, and then pushed him to leave the race because he was getting in the way, might now try to elevate their candidate to the Oval Office rather than wait for a pesky election?

This brazen cynicism has been laid bare by inside accounts of how Biden was heavied into quitting the race.

According to multiple accounts, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer played “good cop” while former House speaker Nancy Pelosi warned “that they could either do this the easy way or the hard way.”

What that “hard way” might have looked like is anyone’s guess, though it likely would have seen the airing of even more revelations about Biden’s physical and mental state to say nothing of the inner workings of the Biden family business.

For her part, Harris looks to be measuring the drapes at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave as she plays at being the de facto president.

US Vice President Kamala Harris speaking recently on the South Lawn of the White House. Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP

She seems to have a new communications team who have sharpened up her stump speech.

On Monday, she presided over an event at the South Lawn of the White House where she praised her nominal boss Joe Biden’s “legacy of accomplishment over the past three years is unmatched in modern history.”

“In one term, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who have served two terms in office.”

Well, that’s one way to put it.

And, in a hint of just how hard left and “progressive” a potential future Harris administration might be, Harris this week also refused to preside over the Senate for Netanyahu’s visit.

Quite a flex from someone who claims that it is Donald Trump who snubs America’s allies and embraces her foes.

But then again, Harris is the all-but-head of the Democrat party, which now exists to defend democracy … so long as people make the “right” choice.

Originally published as President Kamala? Democrats could put her in the Oval Office before election day