Biden's candidacy faces new perils

President Joe Biden’s imperiled reelection campaign hit new trouble Wednesday as House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said merely “it’s up to the president to decide” if he should stay in the race, celebrity donor George Clooney said he should not run and Democratic senators and lawmakers expressed fresh fear about his ability to beat Republican Donald Trump.

Late in the evening, Vermont Sen. Peter Welch called on Biden to withdraw from the election, becoming the first Senate Democrat to do so. Welch said he is worried because “the stakes could not be higher.”

The sudden flurry of grave pronouncements despite Biden’s determined insistence he is not leaving the 2024 race put on public display just how unsettled the question remains among prominent Democrats.

On Capitol Hill, an eighth House Democrat, Rep. Pat Ryan of New York, and later a ninth, Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, publicly asked Biden to step aside.

“I want him to do whatever he decides to do,” Pelosi said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” rather than declaring Biden should stay in. While Biden has said repeatedly that he’s made his decision, she said, “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short.”

It’s a crucial moment for the president and his party, as Democrats consider what was once unthinkable — having the incumbent Biden step aside, just weeks before the Democratic National Convention that is on track to nominate him as their candidate for reelection.

Biden is hosting world leaders in Washington for the NATO summit this week with a crowded schedule of formal meetings, sideline chats and long diplomatic dinners, all opportunities to showcase he is up for the job despite a worrisome performance last month in the first presidential debate with Trump.

His party at a crossroads, Biden faces the next tests Thursday — in public, at a scheduled news conference that many Democrats will be watching for signs of his abilities, and privately, as his top advisers meet with the Senate Democratic caucus to discuss their concerns and shore up support.

Welch said in a Washington Post opinion piece published Wednesday evening, “We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance.”

The first-term senator said Vermont loves Biden and he was calling on the president to withdraw from the race “with sadness.”

To be sure, Biden maintains strong support from key corners of his coalition, particularly some in the Congressional Black Caucus on Capitol Hill, whose leadership was instrumental in ushering the president to victory in 2020 and is standing by him as the country’s best choice to defeat Trump again in 2024.

“At this moment, the stakes are too high and we have to focus,” Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota told The Associated Press earlier in the week, saying Democrats are “losing ground” the longer they fight over Biden’s candidacy. “Democracy is on the line. Everything we value as Democrats, as a country, is on the line, and we have to stop being distracted.”

Pelosi has been widely watched for signals of how top Democrats are thinking about Biden’s wounded candidacy, her comments viewed as important for the party’s direction as members weigh possible alternatives in the campaign against Trump.

Because of her powerful position as the former House speaker and proximity to Biden as a trusted longtime ally of his generation, Pelosi is seen as one of the few Democratic leaders who could influence the president’s thinking.

The lack of a full statement from Pelosi backing Biden’s continued campaign is what lawmakers are likely to hear most clearly, even as she told ABC later she believes he can win.

Her remarks came as actor Clooney, who had just hosted a glitzy Hollywood fundraiser for the president last month, said in a New York Times op-ed that the Biden he saw three weeks ago wasn’t the Joe Biden of 2020. “He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”

Democrats have been reeling over whether to continue backing Biden after his poor showing in the June 27 debate and his campaign’s lackluster response to their pleas that Biden, at 81, show voters he is ready for another four-year term.

Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, spoke forcefully late Tuesday about the danger of a second Trump presidency and said it’s for the president “to consider” the options.

Stopping just short of calling for Biden to drop out, Bennet said on CNN what he told his colleagues in private — that he believes Trump “is on track to win this election — and maybe win it by a landslide and take with him the Senate and the House.”

Bennet said, “It’s not a question about politics. It’s a moral question about the future of our country.”

By Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said he was “deeply concerned” about Biden winning the election, which he called existential for the country.

“We have to reach a conclusion as soon as possible,” Blumenthal said on CNN.

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia told reporters, “I have complete confidence that Joe Biden will do the patriotic thing for the country. And he’s going to make that decision.”

Biden and his campaign are working more intently now to shore up support, and the president met with labor leaders Wednesday, relying on the unions to help make the case that his record in office matters more than his age.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer invited Biden’s campaign to address senators’ concerns, and redoubled his backing of the president. “As I have made clear repeatedly publicly and privately, I support President Biden and remain committed to ensuring Donald Trump is defeated in November,” he said.

The president’s team is sending senior Biden advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, and Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon to meet with Democratic senators privately Thursday for a caucus lunch, according to both a Senate leadership aide and the Biden campaign.

There were some concerns, however, that it could backfire. One Democratic senator who requested anonymity to speak about the closed-door meeting said it could be a waste of time if Biden would not make the case to senators himself.

Pelosi said Biden “has been a great president” who is beloved and respected by House Democrats. The Californian said she watched as he delivered a forceful speech at the NATO summit Tuesday, and she recounted his many accomplishments.

While foreign leaders are in Washington this week and Biden is on the world stage hosting the event at a critical time in foreign affairs, Pelosi encouraged Democrats to “let’s just hold off” with any announcements about his campaign.

“Whatever you’re thinking, either tell somebody privately but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see,” she said, how it goes “this week.”

 Courtesy: The Associated Press

Why Pelosi remained silent for six months?

Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House of Representatives and a key ally of Joe Biden, signed a letter on Friday from dozens of congressional Democrats to the president and Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging a halt to weapons transfers to Israel.

The letter by Pelosi and 36 other Democrats came after Israel on April 01 killed seven aid workers of World Central Kitchen (WCK) in Gaza. Most probably if six of the aid workers had not been citizens of the US and its allies, Pelosi and other Democrats would not have objected to the shipment of arms to Israel.

The death of the six WCK staff who bravely defied all risks to deliver food to the starved people in northern Gazans is an unfortunate and unforgettable event.

The question is why no official voice came from Pelosi during six months of Israel’s genocide against the defenseless Palestinian citizens in Gaza.

She raised objections to sending arms to Israel after a dual American-Canadian national, three Brits, an Australian, and a Pole were killed in the Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, where starvation and famine are more rampant.

"In light of the recent strike against aid workers and the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis, we believe it is unjustifiable to approve these weapons transfers," the letter said.

Pelosi is well aware that since October 07 Israel has killed over 33,000 people, which shows that on average 183 Palestinians have been massacred per day. This is without counting thousands of bodies buried under rubble and those who have lost limbs or got paralyzed for life.

There is a question how Pelosi as a mother has been feeling about Palestinian mothers who are seeing their children go without food and water and being dismembered and massacred by the US-supplied fighter jets.

How many more children and women should have been killed by mostly American-made weapons until Pelosi and 36 fellow Democrats talk about the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza?

It is highly unlikely that Biden and his inner circle would listen to Pelosi and other co-signers of the letter on weapons transfers to Israel because Biden has been boasting that he is a Zionist and If there were not an Israel, we'd have to invent one. 

The Biden administration is not backing calls for an independent, third-party investigation into the Israeli strike that killed the WCK aid workers.

As House speaker Pelosi stood strong against Donald Trump’s reckless foreign policy and rash behavior when he was president but she reacted too late to the hell that Israel has created in Gaza and only when six aid workers of the US-based WCK were killed in the besieged coastal enclave.

 

Nancy Pelosi era comes to an end

After leading the Democrats for the last two decades, the House Speaker announced Thursday that she will step down next year from her spot at the top of the party. It is a momentous run for the most powerful woman in the US history, clearing the way for a younger generation of up and coming lawmakers to climb into the leadership ranks.

The announcement, which came shortly after late midterm results had officially flipped House control to the Republicans, sent shockwaves across Capitol Hill, as lawmakers in both parties grappled with the thought of a Democratic House without Pelosi at the helm. 

Yet the departure is only partial, Pelosi may cede her formal leadership seat, but will remain in Congress indefinitely, where she’s aiming to assume a mentorship role and grease the transition for whichever new leader fills the mantle. Such a role would be unprecedented in modern memory — most leaders who step down quickly leave Congress — but Pelosi is not one to do things by the book. 

The House chamber during Pelosi’s speech was a study of partisan contrasts. While her Democratic allies packed into their side of the chamber, filling almost every seat, the Republican side of the chamber was virtually empty — a sign of just how polarized Congress has become in recent years.  

Only a handful of GOP lawmakers were on hand for the speech, including Joe Wilson, Tim Burchett, Doug LaMalfa and Young Kim. But a vast majority of Republicans skipped the event, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Only one member of the GOP leadership team was on hand, Steve Scalise, the Republican whip, who gave Pelosi a standing ovation at the end. Burchett and LaMalfa later hugged Pelosi. 

Her announcement ends the perennial speculation game surrounding the future of Capitol Hill’s single most powerful lawmaker, and she kept them guessing to the very last. 

After Democrats had staved off a red wave in this year’s elections, there was plenty of talk that Pelosi could remain in power, if she chose, even despite a previous pledge to step out of leadership at the end of this term.

In the end, Pelosi suggested her decision to exit hinged more on the recent assault on her husband, Paul Pelosi, who was bludgeoned with a hammer last month at the family’s San Francisco home by an intruder whose intended target, police said, was the Speaker. 

By remaining in Congress outside of leadership, Pelosi can remain influential as an adviser, fundraiser and vote getting whip while taking a foot off the gas of her famously frenetic schedule — a hybrid role that will allow her to spend more time with her recuperating husband. 

Pelosi has led the House Democrats since 2003, marking the longest leadership run in either party since the legendary tenure of Sam Rayburn, a Texas Democrat, who died in office in 1961. Over those 20 years, she oversaw passage of some of the most significant legislative accomplishments of the last half-century; raised more than US$1.2 billion for the party; and shattered the glass ceiling in 2007, when she became the first woman ever to ascend to the House Speakership — a feat she repeated in 2019.

“She’s a tough, effective, focused, disciplined woman. I wasn’t always on the same side as her — and it’s not pleasant being on the other side of her — but she knew how to bring a disparate group of people together to get the job done,” Rep. Debbie Dingell, a close Pelosi ally, said Thursday morning as Democrats waited anxiously for the Speaker’s announcement. 

Pelosi helped steer the congressional response to the Great Recession; guided the passage of ObamaCare; secured trillions of dollars in emergency relief through the COVID-19 pandemic; and made the decision to impeach former President Trump, not once but twice. 

Pelosi also launched the special investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the results of which could reverberate through the legal and political world for many years to come.

“I’m not a House historian, but what I hear from House historians is that she is probably the strongest Speaker of the House we have seen in many, many, many years,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, another close Pelosi ally.

“It values, her strategic ability, her knowledge of the system, how to negotiate — all of those really melded into one person, which have forged an unbelievable legislative legacy,” she continued. “And that’s wherein lies her strength . … Someone who knows how to get from A to B, with a very diverse caucus.” 

Part of that legacy will be this year’s midterm elections. Heading into the polls last week, Republicans were expecting a rout, one that would lend them a considerable majority to do battle with President Biden through the last two years of his first term. Instead, Democrats were able to cling to dozens of toss-up seats in battleground districts, limiting the Republican gains and making it harder for GOP leaders to govern next year. 

“This really solidifies her legacy as the most accomplished Speaker in U.S. history, by all measures — all measures,” Ashley Etienne, Pelosi’s former communications director, said of Pelosi’s role in the Democrats’ midterm performance. “There’s no question.”

Pelosi’s decision will clear the bottleneck that’s existed at the very top of the Democratic Caucus since 2003, when she and her top deputy, Steny Hoyer, assumed the leading spots. James Clyburn would join them in 2006 in the No. 3 slot, where he has remained ever since. 

Neither Hoyer nor Clyburn have ruled out bids to remain in power in the next Congress. But a younger group of up-and-coming Democrats is eager to climb the leadership ladder, or just get into the ranks.

Three current members of leadership — Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar — are expected to launch bids for higher spots at the first opportunity.

Jeffries, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, is widely viewed as the favorite to replace Pelosi and Joyce Beatty, who heads the Black Caucus, predicted Thursday that every member of that group would back Jeffries.  

But Hoyer, after almost 20 years right behind Pelosi, has raised tens of millions of dollars for the party over the years, building his own loyal following along the way.