Splashing cold water on “loyalty and love,” one top Democrat explained a key reason behind his calling for President Joe Biden to step aside.
“Do you really want to take that risk?”
(Video: CNN)
Be it a messaging strategy to support Biden’s newly adopted underdog narrative against the “elites” or concern for their own political hides down ballot, an increasing number of congressional Democrats have expressed their wish to see the incumbent end his re-election campaign. Thursday, after the president’s “big boy” press conference, a statement from House Intelligence Committee ranking member Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) counted him among them with fear about another debate disaster.
“And imagine that three months from now we get another performance like there was in the debate right before the election. Do you want to take that risk? I don’t,” he explained on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins” after the president’s performance remained a central focus surpassing two weeks.
The congressman’s appearance followed his release of a statement where he touted a so-called “remarkable legacy” from Biden, fearmongered over a potential second term for former President Donald Trump, and voiced his hope that “President Biden will step away from the presidential campaign.”
Joe Biden’s record of public service is unrivaled. His accomplishments are immense. His legacy as a great president is secure.
He must not risk that legacy, those accomplishments and American democracy to soldier on in the face of the horrors promised by Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/FMMrTK8pb8
— Jim Himes (@jahimes) July 12, 2024
“This is not about one press conference, one debate, you know, one speech. This is about the presidency of the United States,” he told Collins as he dismissed inclinations toward “loyalty and love” of the political figure.
Interspersing data points with talking points, Himes remarked, “There is not a single number out there, not one, you know — Cook Report telling us that we may lose the House — that says that Joe Biden is going to win. And so the answer to that, which is a fair answer, is that, yeah, but there’s still time.”
“There’s four or five months to the election. So, then you need to ask yourself, what’s the trajectory look like here? Are things getting better? If you believe that the problem the Democrats have is that we haven’t gotten our message across, the message with the bipartisan infrastructure law; the message of capping out-of-pocket expenses and Medicare at $2,000 and capping insulin costs at $35; and standing up for veterans,” said the lawmaker, “if you believe that our problem is that we haven’t gotten that message across well, and if you also believe that the president has the biggest megaphone, you have to drop the emotion and the loyalty and love and say, in the next four or five months, is that story going to be told with such precision and poetry and beauty that you will turn around all the numbers that say we are going to lose?”
“And I did this painful thing tonight because, for me, the answer to that is, I just don’t see that trajectory. I don’t see the numbers,” he contended.
The grim picture of how Democrats viewed Biden’s chances included Himes pointing out, “No president has ever won with a 37% approval rating. Look at the swing states, because this is a race that is decided in five or six states. You know, you can look at lots of different polls, the president isn’t really up in any of them.”
As to how others were feeling on Capitol Hill, the Connecticut congressman suggested those speaking out against Biden’s continued candidacy represented a far greater segment of the party’s sentiment than those standing with the incumbent to the bitter end. “I would tell you that there is a very small percentage of my colleagues who are ‘ride or die,’ who say this is the only way to go.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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