Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes:

After weeks of debate about the viability of President Joe Biden’s run for reëlection, the mounting pressure for him to leave the race finally overwhelmed his own efforts to stay. In the immediate aftermath of Biden’s historic decision to end his campaign, the enthusiasm that coalesced around Vice-President Kamala Harris as his replacement seemed to be as much a reflection of relief about Biden as it was excitement about Harris herself.

Since Biden’s revealing performance in the first Presidential debate, on June 27th, his candidacy had been leaching support. Even after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, which many believed would buy Biden time, growing numbers of Democratic members of Congress abandoned the President’s campaign. Other Democrats, especially those in the Congressional Black Caucus, maintained their support for Biden. But Biden’s most stalwart defenders came from the Party’s left flank. Senator Bernie Sanders described Biden as the “most effective President in the modern history of our country.” In February, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described Biden as “one of the most successful presidents in modern American history,” and earlier this month Representative Ilhan Omar called Biden “the best President of my lifetime.” This was a far cry from Ocasio-Cortez’s claim during the 2020 Democratic primaries that “in any other country, Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party”—and it’s likely to have a pronounced effect on progressives’ ability to influence Harris. [Continue reading…]