Biden Lost Against Trump, Not Kamala – OpEd
Convinced as I am that there are some very positive aspects of Trump’s election, economy and foreign policy, I believe that this is where we need to start to be able to say, as I believe I can say, that Kamala Harris did not lose the 2024 election but Joe Biden did.
Superficial commentators on the election results miss some things.
1- Biden when he declared he was giving up competing said that his resignation did not depend on health reasons. If the President says so – paraphrasing Shakespeare,- we must believe him, because the President is a man of honor. And this cannot be questioned.
2. But if the responsibility for the withdrawal was not health, then it was the polls. But then the President should have resigned to cut the umbilical cord that unified Kamala’s image to his, leaving her free to decide her own electoral program without overlaps, which were already clearly losing.
That was not the case. Biden remained on the political scene as President, and Kamala was unable to express her own political campaign. “All Quiet on the Western Front” (German: Im Westen nichts Neues,) by Erich Maria Remarque is the case: “Nothing new on the Democratic electoral front, one might say in relation to Biden’s replacement with Kamala. Voters are not stupid. They understood it. Why would they have changed their preference of Trump for that of Kamala Harris-Biden? If there were no changes there was no reason to do so, and no one did.
And this is what the “I told you so” style commentators miss. Biden gave up competing but continued to occupy the political scene as President. He spoke about the economy, attended meetings (see the leader of Israel and Ukraine), with his cumbersome presence he superimposed his image on that of Kamala, preventing her from expressing her own differentiated political proposal if any.
What is the difference between Biden and Kamala? asks the American voter. None. It is only natural that Kamala’s negative vote would have reflected and confirmed that of Biden’s negative polls. In the image of future voters, differentiating Biden from Harris was impossible. Kamala was a junior version of Biden. It is only obvious that if there were no differences, the results would have been the same. And so it was.
So that what i say does not seem like hindsight considerations, taking advantage of the hospitality of this magazine on more than one occasion I have written
a- that Biden having withdrawn from the electoral campaign should have resigned as President
b. Kamala should have differentiated herself from the fundamental principles of Biden’s campaign to demonstrate to voters that she was not a copy of Biden but an autonomous candidate, but to do so Biden should have resigned as President.
c. I suggested that in foreign policy and economics it was more important than ever for Kamala to indicate to Americans that there were substantial differences with Biden’s policies.
The Democratic general staff made a fundamental mistake. Candidate Kamala Harris should need to express a personal electoral strategy copying Biden she would loose. And for Biden resignation there were two cases. If health reasons justified his withdrawal, he should have resigned as President. If they were not health reasons but polls, the electoral campaign should have distanced itself from Biden thanx to his resignation. This did not happen. Kamala, also due to a natural dependence as vice president for four years, continued to slavishly follow Biden’s same path. The leveling out in foreign policy and the failure to address the problem of inflation were sensational.
It is therefore no surprise that Kamala’s election results have reaffirmed exactly Biden’s bad polls, something that the hasty “I told you so” commentators fail to grasp.
Biden’s continued presence on the political scene has prevented voters from forming their own idea of the candidate – PERSONAL AND DIFFERENT – In fact, the American voter took it for granted that he would continue Biden’s policies. and Biden’s continued presidential activity has confirmed this.
Biden failed in the polls. Kamala failed in the votes.
Biden, it has been written several times in articles hosted by this newspaper, should have resigned to leave the Democratic candidate free to express her presidential visions. This was not the case – For the common voter, given Biden’s continued presence, Kamala was a minor electoral double of Biden.
That said, Mr. Trump, in some economics and foreign policy, for what you have declared, I personally completely agree, they are good for America and for the world. But there must be no doubt: you defeated Biden.
In conclusion. Kamala was sent to the slaughter to correct a losing situation, but she was not given the margins to correct.
Biden lost the elections, not Kamala.
