DISPATCHES FROM THE BIDENBUNKER: Secluded in Rehoboth, Biden Stews at Allies’ Pressure to Drop Out of the Race.
Sick with Covid and abandoned by allies, President Biden has been fuming at his Delaware beach house, increasingly resentful about what he sees as an orchestrated campaign to drive him out of the race and bitter toward some of those he once considered close, including his onetime running mate Barack Obama.
Mr. Biden has been around politics long enough to assume that the leaks appearing in the media in recent days are being coordinated to raise the pressure on him to step aside, according to people close to him. He considers Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, the main instigator, but is irritated at Mr. Obama as well, seeing him as a puppet master behind the scenes.
The friction between the sitting president and leaders of his own party so close to an election is unlike anything seen in Washington in generations — especially because the Democrats now working to ease him out were some of the allies most critical to his success over the last dozen years. It was Mr. Obama who elevated Mr. Biden from a presidential also-ran to the vice presidency, setting him up to win the White House in 2020, and it was Ms. Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, who pushed through his landmark legislative achievements.
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And he certainly noticed that Mr. Obama has not done anything to help him in recent days even as his own former aides publicly have led the way in calling on Mr. Biden to withdraw in what was interpreted, rightly or wrongly, as a message from the former president’s camp. The unseen but clearly felt presence of Mr. Obama in particular has brought a Shakespearean quality to the drama now playing out, given their eight-year partnership.
Meanwhile, Ed Morrissey comments on another New York Times article: NYT: Feud Opening Between Biden, Harris?
“Not surprisingly, there was no news generated on this call, and instead, it was a pitch for donors to continue to invest in groups on the ground who are working to defeat Donald Trump,” read an email from Corridor Partners, which advises donors focused on climate issues. “The vice president spoke very briefly and encouraged us all to keep working hard to win in November.”
The email, which was viewed by The New York Times, added, “The call was not productive, and we wanted to apologize to each of you who joined for sharing that invitation.”
Burdened by what has been!
Those poll numbers reflect the desperation Democrats feel, especially after the presidential debate and Trump’s defiant stand after an assassin nearly killed him. They face only three choices: The worst president at the top of the ticket, an incompetent VP at the top of the ticket, or an open convention that would tear the party apart along its factional and identitarian lines less than three months before a national election. Harris was part of the leadership that put Democrats in this position — and they know it.
The reporting coming out of several Democratic Party house organs in the past couple of weeks has been pretty astounding to read after their four-year long torpor. Or as Charles Cooke tweets:
Enjoy it for now; normal service will resume from the DNC-MSM the moment that the Biden situation has resolved and his would-be successor is in place.