Biden struggles with being overshadowed by Harris: report

By 
 October 2, 2024

Joe Biden is feeling dejected and obsolete ever since he was pressured to surrender his re-election ambitions.

Biden has "privately complained to allies that his name and his accomplishments have virtually disappeared from the national conversation and about how quickly the party that he has served for more than five decades appears to have moved on from him," NBC reported.

"Stung" by Harris

Biden initially resisted calls from his own party to quit after a disastrous debate performance in June. He even declared that only the "Lord almighty" could convince him to give up.

But after three weeks of defiance, Biden stunned the nation by announcing he would end his campaign and endorse Kamala Harris for president.

Although technically still running the country, Biden has been little seen or heard from since he stepped aside in July.

With the nation focused on Trump and Harris, Biden fears his legacy slipping away. On the campaign trail, Harris has labored to distance herself from Biden's unpopular record, as Trump and J.D. Vance constantly remind voters of her current role as vice president.

Harris "stung" Biden with one of her retorts during the September 10 presidential debate, NBC reported.

As Trump insisted she would govern like Biden, she responded, "Clearly, I am not Joe Biden...And I am certainly not Donald Trump. And what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country."

Biden's inner struggle

Biden's emotions are "complex," sources told NBC. One on hand, Biden realizes that Harris must win to preserve what's left of his legacy.

“He always just says to her, ‘The most important thing is that you win,’” one senior campaign official said.

Harris has been mentioning Biden less in her speeches, opting for the vague "we" when discussing the Biden-Harris administration's record. While Biden grasps the political logic behind it, the pivot still hurts him.

"But while Biden is attuned to political realities, he also has expressed a range of emotions about his exit from the race — from feeling his legacy rests on a Harris victory to anguishing over his imprint’s vanishing from the national stage, according to the people familiar with his private comments," NBC said.

Biden has made it clear that he hasn't moved on from the shocking end of his political career - as he clings to the belief that he would have beaten Trump if he had stayed in.

“The fact of the matter is my polling was always in range of beating this guy," he told The View last week.

And they say Trump is dramatic!

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