World
November 8, 2024 11:30
united states - After a crushing defeat in the presidential race against Donald Trump, Democrats are engaging in a blame game and facing criticism from within their own party.
Hidden behind sunglasses, Nancy Pelosi listened to the toughest speech of Kamala Harris' political career this week. The Democratic presidential candidate had to acknowledge her painful loss in the race against Donald Trump. Harris had skipped the planned celebration on election night, but couldn't avoid it a day later. From a stage at Howard University in Washington, the bitter pill was swallowed in front of the world.
News media also closely watched Pelosi. The powerful congresswoman had played a crucial role in the party uprising that led to Joe Biden replacing her as the presidential candidate four months earlier. Some journalists claimed to see tears on the university campus. Others noted a heated discussion between Pelosi and party strategist Donna Brazile.
Focusing on Democratic leaders fits into the 'blame game' unfolding within the party. After the landslide victory of the man who had been portrayed by the ruling party as a 'dictator' and 'fascist', the Democrats face a reckoning. Accusations abound: about African-American male voters who supposedly abandoned the first black female presidential candidate. Or Latinos, who were supposedly less offended by the Republican 'trash' joke than Democrats tried to imply.
Running mate Tim Walz, who also lost, is under fire. The governor of Minnesota, formerly praised as a friendly teddy bear, is now suddenly deemed a 'wrong choice'. Among Democrats, there's retrospective wisdom suggesting Harris should have gone with Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, instead. 'People wonder what would have happened if Shapiro had been on the ticket, not just concerning Pennsylvania,' said a Democratic party official from the crucial lost swing state on Fox News.
Harsh accusations are leaking from the campaign itself. About an 'arrogant staff' that blew through over a billion dollars, and about campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon who 'wanted to run an Obama-like campaign with a non-Obama candidate.' 'How can you lose an election so massively,' raged a Democratic strategist. 'For weeks we were told the race would be neck and neck. In reality, we didn't even come close.'
President Biden is drawing much attention. In 2020, he presented himself as a transition president, indicating he would serve only one term. Reality proved otherwise. Biden was unwilling to budge. His stubbornness led to the Democrats changing candidates only in the last months before the election, following a candidate mutiny. Many believe it was too late.
Biden addressed the nation on Thursday, making it clear that he had done his job and the outcome was not his fault. 'This was a historical presidency,' Biden said in the Rose Garden of the White House, where he promised a peaceful transfer of power on January 20. The president boasted of leaving behind 'the world's strongest economy.' Analysts see the speech as an attempt by Biden to salvage his legacy. It has been tarnished not only by his party's defeat but mainly by the return to the White House of the man who had ousted Biden in 2020.
Harris is also facing a lot of criticism. According to left-wing, independent Senator Bernie Sanders, the new presidential candidate ignored the concerns of American workers grappling with high inflation. 'It's no surprise that the Democratic Party that has abandoned the working class now finds that the working class has turned its back on them,' said the socialist politician. 'First, it was the white working class, now it's the Latino and black workers,' raged the senator, who often aligns politically with the Democrats. 'While the Democrats defend the status quo, the American people are angry and want change.'
All this criticism could pave the way for a reckoning, opening the door to a new generation of Democratic leaders. Biden (81) will leave the White House in January, but Congresswoman Pelosi (84) and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (73) are unwilling to step aside.
The political future of the 60-year-old Harris is uncertain. The woman who was praised in recent months for her 'new way forward' is now suddenly seen as too much of a vassal to the departing Biden. Losing presidential candidates usually don't get a second chance like Trump. One thing is certain for Harris: her vice-presidential duties will end after January 20. A departure from Washington seems likely.