I don't believe there is a conspiracy against Biden. I don't believe it's "The Elites against The Base"

[Tom Rinaldo]

There are always factions in politics. There are always rivalries, "camps", special interests and hyper personal ambitions at work behind the facade of unity that every political party would prefer to project as their image. But the Democratic Party, as an institution from top to bottom, was solidly behind President Biden, until the Presidential debate.

There could have been one or more serious primary challengers to Biden this year, but there weren't. That should not be taken as a given. Ted Kennedy challenged President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination in 1980, and Ronald Reagan challenged President Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination in 1976. Both of those contests went down to the wire, with uncertainty over the outcome up until the conventions. Yes Joe Biden won 14 million primary votes this year, and mine was one of them. I had no reason to have second thoughts over backing Biden for another term, and he had no serious opposition inside the Democratic Party.

Sure, i could have voted for a low profile back bench congressman with no national following instead, or for an inspirational author who failed to move the needle when she tried to run in 2020, but why? I believed that the man who I saw campaign against Donald Trump in 2020 could and would defeat Trump again after this presidential campaign. That was the consensus inside the Democratic Party, and despite all of the fore mentioned rivalries and factions no doubt present among Democrats, above all else Democrats wanted to win November's election. That was my mind set when i voted for Joe Biden. And the same was true no doubt for Nancy Pelosi and all of the other Democratic Party leaders who have subsequently advanced if not outright endorsed the idea of replacing Joe Biden as our nominee.

What changed? I think the honest answer is, Joe Biden. Yes President Biden remains a man of superior values, insights, instincts, and judgement. To use the baseball metaphor raised earlier today, as a pitcher he hasn't lost the strike zone, but his fast ball isn't the same as it was in 2020. Biden's team scheduled an early election debate this year for a straightforward tactical reason, to shake up the election race. Biden's team significantly outspent the Trump effort in the battleground states up until July, but Biden couldn't open up a lead over Trump. Meanwhile Democratic candidates for Senate were outperforming Biden in those same States. The reasoning was that an early debate would spark voters into making a direct comparison between Trump and Biden, focusing their attention on Trump's deficiencies. Instead it shifted the focus to Biden's deficiency. We needed one outcome but we got the opposite.

I could say that Pelosi, Schumer, Jeffries, Schiff, Raskin, and Obama and the like are all out of touch national elitists, but I don't really believe that. They are Joe Biden's partners in the Democratic Party, and they, like Biden himself, know how much of a disaster is will be if Trump gets elected and Republicans control both Houses of Congress. Joe Biden, along with Vice President Harris, has an excellent record in office. The public should appreciate that. Trump should be ten points behind in the race at this point. No one can, nor wants to, take Biden's record in office away from him. Whoever tops our ticket, Biden, Harris, or anyone else, will run on that record. For Democrats to win in 2024 we have to do better than we have at both selling that record and expressing opposition to the record of MAGA Republicans. That simply is a fact.

Some think Joe Biden is fully capable of still doing that. Others think not. But the clear majority of America's voters have been adamant now for over a year that they believe both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are too old to be elected President again. Unfortunately more feel that way about Biden than Trump. Those too are facts and they don't work to our advantage.

Over the last 15 years Nancy Pelosi has become my political North Star. She has her finger on more pulses than i can even imagine. Simply put i not only believe that she wants what is best for both our Party and our Country, I believe she more so than virtually anyone, know best how to navigate us toward that goal. Yes, there is politics afoot. Yes egos are involved. Yes, no one can say with absolute certainty what course of action at this critical juncture will most likely lead to victory. I trust President Biden, but he is not the only Democrat I trust. If he goes on to be nominated for a second term, he has my full support. If Vice President Harris instead becomes our nominee, she too will have my full support. But no one can say that Democrats have turned their backs on our base voters if we should run an African American woman for President.