Reports suggest Joe Biden is chomping at the bit to get out and campaign for Kamala Harris in the final stretch of this election. There’s just one problem: her team seems less than enthusiastic about having him tag along. It’s easy to see why. Between the president’s frequent bouts of visible irritation and his habit of getting…let’s say “spatially disoriented”…on stage, the Harris camp appears to think he’s more of a political anchor than an asset right now. And who can blame them? Biden wants in, but Kamala’s people are giving him the political version of “we’ll call you.”
Rumor has it that, despite Biden’s persistence, Harris’s campaign isn’t taking the bait. According to insiders, they don’t want to be rude, but they also really don’t want him showing up in front of cameras looking confused or, worse, launching into one of his infamous tirades. Jill Biden is mum on the topic, probably because even she knows that trotting out an increasingly unpopular president with a 39% approval rating might not be the Hail Mary the Harris campaign needs right now.
Apparently, it’s a bit like a bad breakup — the kind where you’d rather just stop texting than have “the talk.” Harris’s team respects Biden’s service, or at least they’re polite enough to say they do, but tying their candidate to his brand isn’t exactly the fresh, “new way forward” image they’re trying to sell. It’s no secret Biden has become more of a flashback to the last four years than a promising look to the future, according to one campaign insider. Pollster Nate Silver isn’t exactly floored by this revelation, though he says he’s “shocked, not shocked.”
The president’s schedule apparently has plenty of slots open to campaign for his own vice president, but Kamala’s team seems content to just let those days pass without a call-back. The official story from the White House? Total denial of any friction here, naturally. But as things stand, there’s not a single joint appearance on the docket for Biden and Harris before Election Day, leaving Biden looking sidelined by his own party’s candidate.
Frankly, it’s hard to feel too sorry for Biden, even if he’s getting the cold shoulder. His own attempts to lower the temperature in politics are regularly contradicted by his rants about “threats to democracy” and “semi-fascists.” So maybe Kamala’s team is right — putting him out to pasture might be the best decision they’ve made all campaign.
