My column for the San Francisco Chronicle on Biden's withdrawal...

Thanks to the Chron for letting me do this!

Biden saved America in 2020, and he may have just saved it again on Sunday

By Jack Ohman

July 21, 2024

A panel from the June 16, 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Sunday cartoon. Little did I know, and little did she know…

President Joe Biden did the right thing.

Poignant? Extremely, because President Biden has been a national political force for a half a century.

His dramatic exit comes a week after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, whose convention was arguably the most disturbing political gathering America has ever seen.

The only analogous political event to Biden’s exit was President Lyndon Johnson declining to run again on March 30, 1968. That moment was historically fraught, but it didn’t equal the drama of this sad moment.

Biden’s catastrophic debate performance three weeks ago led to this historic juncture in American history.

President Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris adds yet another layer of high-voltage electricity to this moment. Should Harris become the Democratic nominee and defeat Trump in November, she’d be the first woman and Asian American ever to be elected.

Her election is not a done deal, but at least this lances the boil of Democratic discontent that had been festering since Biden’s implosion on the debate stage.

Biden knows that Harris is a historic choice, not just as vice president but as the 2024 Democratic nominee. Expect the Democratic Party to close ranks immediately, not wanting to squander another minute in the race against Trump.

Trump stands as a singular, existential threat to American democracy, and now the national discussion can return to his dreadful record, his detestable plans, his racially divisive xenophobic rhetoric and the Silicon Valley billionaires — David Sacks and Elon Musk — who have bankrolled his operation from the start. 

Don’t expect the rhetorical temperature to drop.

In Harris, Trump would face someone who can rightly eviscerate him in a debate. She can and should ask for a debate every week after September because the American voter deserves a full discussion. 

Maybe she can instruct him and his racist clan on how her first name is pronounced. 

Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, has been effective in many situations, most famously in Senate hearings where she left her witnesses quivering on the floor.

Black voter enthusiasm for the Democrats has been somewhat tepid this cycle. Harris, who is Black and South Asian, could be a galvanizing force with Black women, a voter bloc pivotal in major cities in must-win swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Can Harris meet the moment?

Her first decision is to select an effective vice presidential running mate, probably from among rising stars such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, former Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown. 

Any of them would be strong, effective and prepared candidates. Democrats shouldn’t worry about having a bench. The 2028 bench just got put on the field.

Particularly intriguing is the notion of a two-woman ticket. Why not? We’ve had centuries of all-male presidential tickets. 

Is there a chance that Harris could go to a unity ticket with a Republican like former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger or any other Never Trumpers who love the country more than they love the GOP cult? 

Maybe not, but she should give the idea some thought. Perhaps there would be some intraparty resistance, but it would likely be greeted well in this deeply divided country.

Biden’s decision may well save the country. 

Historians will treat this decision as the most selfless patriotic act since President George Washington declined to seek a third term, sending the message that the United States isn’t an autocracy or a monarchy — which is precisely the America Trump and his waterboys and handmaidens crave.

While Biden’s immediate endorsement of Harris may dismay some Democrats, he’s probably correct: No more turmoil. Get the job done as fast as possible, and give Democrats a month to unite and rally around Harris.

Historian Jon Meacham noted that Biden is truly a modern Cincinnatus, who dropped his plough to serve the people and not his ego. Once the job was completed, he returned to his field.

Biden, his family and his staff are no doubt mightily anguished about his decision, as they see a man who saved the country in 2020 and wanted the chance to do it once again. He did it this time with this decision.

This nation faces a wide fissure, and only Joe Biden, the middle-class guy from Scranton, Pa., who still drives a Corvette muscle car, showed the ultimate muscle.

Biden helped return America to global leadership through his steadfast support of Ukraine and a strengthened NATO, and he put Russia’s Vladimir Putin on notice.

Democrats can now turn their attention to exposing the Big Lie campaign of the emotionally disturbed Trump and his feckless running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, whose careerism is his true elegy.

Joe Biden did not go gentle into that good night.

Biden went into it under tremendous personal agony, another sign of his character, which is pathetically lacking in his former opponent.

The torch is passed — the good news, however, is that it still burns.

Jack note: I’ll write about Vice President Harris and her potential running mates tomorrow —Cordially, Jack