LOS ANGELES.–Five days after 81-year-old President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential campaign passing the torch to his 59-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris, senior Democrat strategist James Carville, 80, warned about a “giddy elation.” All the typical news outlets have celebrated Biden’s decision to exit the race and pass the baton to Harris, insisting she’s the right person at the right time to run for president. Carville sees Democrats too caught up with the whoopla of a half-African American, half East Indian running for president meeting all the politically correct reasons to celebrate Biden leaving the race. Carville worries that Democrats show too much euphoria and not enough reality in recognizing what really lies ahead in the presidential race. Watching Democrats get ahead of their skis, Carville sees the prospects of Democrats flopping on Election Day.
Carville wants Democrats to get real about Harris who wants to turn the 2024 election as a referendum on the Supreme Court ending June 24, 2023 Roe v. Wade. Carville sees Democrats no facing reality with Harris, an unpopular politicians for nearly four years as Vice President, getting all the artificial attention now that Biden dropped out. Liberal news outlets at the New York Time and Washington Post, together with every major broadcasts outlet with the exception of Fox News, have acted euphoric over Harris replacing Biden. “They’re coming at us, and they’re gonna keep coming,” Carville told CNBC host Ari Melber. “And this kind of giddy elation is not going to be very help much longer, ‘cause that’s now what we’re gonna be faced with,’” Carville told Melber. Carville knows that the real issues voters care about are the leaky Mexican border and runaway inflation.
Carville sees Harris a focused on what’s worked for her as Vice President or in the past of prosecuting criminals as California’s Attorney General. Voters aren’t buying Kamala’s narrative painting Trump as a bully and sexual predator, not to mention recent felony convictions for fabricated crimes by the political biased Manhattan District Attorney. When the dust settles with Kamala Harris as the Democrat Party nominee, Carville thinks she’ll be forced to deal with runaway inflation, the Ukraine War, conflict in Gaza, terror attacks in the Red Sea, brewing conflict with China over Taiwan, nuclear threat in Iran and nuclear threats from North Korea. All of Kamala’s talk about women’s rights, abortion, civil rights and criminal justice reform don’t address any of voters’ major concerns. Kamala so far has talked about climate change like it’s an imminent threat to the United States.
Carville sees Democrats with a “giddy elation” over jumping on the Kamala bandwagon after a month of Democrat handwringing over 81-year-old President Joe Biden’s refusal to leave the race. Biden spoke to the nation July 24 to explain his reasoning in passing the torch to Kamala. Except, no one listening to the speech heard any real explanation why Biden left the 2024 race. White House officials said Biden did not leave for “medical reasons,” that he was too cognitively impaired to continue in a second term. Biden talked about his past accomplishments, only saying he had more work to do before leaving office Jan. 20, 2025. “Get ready, they’re coming,” said Carville. “I understand that everybody should feel good and liberated and everything else, but if we don’t win the election, we haven’t done anything,” cautioning Democrats from becoming overly confident.
Carville knows that Trump is a formidable nominee who has campaigning down to a science, delivering the most persuasive GOP arguments to the largest crowds ever seen in modern campaigns. Pointing out that Trump still leads in most national polls and in battleground states, Carville wants Democrats to know the amount of catch up they need to play. Carville doesn’t buy the recent New York Times analysis that Harris can only go up from here in her popularity and approval ratings. Harris’ five-day bounce stems from the relief the Democrat Party feels about Biden call it quits. Biden had the Democrat Party in turmoil for the past month since his disastrous June 27 CNN Debate with 78-year-old former President Donald Trump, essentially knocking him out of the race. No damage control strategy pulled Biden out of his post-debate tailspin.
Carville wants Democrat to stop all the post-Biden hype when he knows Kamala will be forced to answer to major questions confronting the country, especially in the economy and foreign policy. Kamala can’t keep talking about Roe v. Wade and women’s right without turning off the lion’s share of U.S. voters, looking for real solution to real problems facing the country. Kamala has done nothing to distinguish herself from Biden, holding the same views on practically every topic. “All I’m saying, watch out people. Don’t get too far out there,” Carville told MSNBC’s Ari Melber. “If we don’t win this, all this good feeling is gonna evaporate and gonna be all for naught,” Carville said, knowing that Kamala will be forced to deal with all 2024 campaign issues, not just the ones that interest her. Talking about “rights and freedom,” or Trump wrecking democracy, won’t cut it.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
