In the aftermath of Joe Biden’s historic decision to withdraw from the presidential campaign, there’s still a lot that we simply don’t know yet.
We don’t know whether Kamala Harris will turn out to be an effective presidential candidate. We don’t know whether a plausible opponent will emerge to challenge Harris for the nomination (or whether it might have made sense for the party to hedge its bets by encouraging a competitive process to determine the nominee rather than putting all their hopes in this one basket).
We don’t know whether Harris will be able to further elevate abortion as an issue that can define the election or whether Republican attacks on her work on immigration policy will allow them to highlight border-related issues to their benefit. And we certainly don’t know yet whether Harris will be able to defeat Donald Trump in November.
But in the first days after Harris’ ascension to the top of the ticket, here is what we do know: Nancy Pelosi’s role in orchestrating Biden’s departure from the race demonstrates that the former speaker may be the most savvy political mind in modern American history. I say this as neither a supporter nor opponent of Pelosi, but as a long-time observer of this country’s politics who watched with astonishment and awe as to how effectively and ruthlessly she steered the president of the United States to the exit door of a campaign he was determined not to leave.
In the days after Biden’s disastrous debate performance last month, Pelosi said almost nothing in public. But two of her strong supporters in the California House delegation were among the first members of Congress to call for Biden to step aside, and a third began circulating a petition to delay Biden’s formal designation. When she did speak out, she first asked whether Biden’s debacle was a “condition” or an “episode,” becoming the first prominent Democrat to raise the possibility that Biden’s decline was irreversible.
Days later, she told an interviewer that it was up to Biden “to decide if he’s going to run,” despite the fact that the president had repeatedly declared his intention to stay in the race. These two statements gave permission for other Democrats to voice their concerns, creating a groundswell in which an increasing number of party leaders came forward to ratchet up the pressure on Biden.
By the time Adam Schiff, one of Pelosi’s closest allies, called for Biden to withdraw, the die was cast. The same day, campaign chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg told the president that fundraising was drying up. And by that night, Biden had tested positive for COVID and he returned home to Delaware for a few days of isolation before summoning his top aides to draft the letter announcing the end of his candidacy.
Since Biden’s withdrawal from the race, it has been reported that Pelosi had privately spoken with the president on several occasions about the damage his candidacy was doing to Democrats up and down the ballot. Unlike Barack Obama, whose efforts to discourage Biden from running in 2016 was still a sore spot between the two men, and unlike Bill Clinton, whose 20th century perspective was less relevant, Pelosi was the one Democratic leader able to tell the president in no uncertain terms that his time was up. She also made it clear that while she wanted him to be able to preserve his dignity, his continued reluctance would make his departure a much less pleasant and potentially embarrassing episode. That not-so-veiled threat may have finalized Biden’s decision.
Our country has had many notable House Speakers, from Henry Clay to Sam Rayburn to Tip O’Neill to Newt Gingrich. But perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Pelosi’s accomplishment is that she was no longer an elected House leader, having relinquished that position last year. As one of 435 members of the Chamber, she brought down a president of her own party. Regardless of which candidate wins in November, we already know that Pelosi has made 2024 an election that will go down in history.
Originally published by the Jewish Journal.
