Though speculation continues to swirl about whether President Joe Biden will indeed seek a second term in office come 2024, one notable political commentator recently suggested that it is the vice president who really ought to be in danger of losing her spot on the ticket, as the Washington Examiner notes.
In the estimation of left-leaning comedian Bill Maher, rather than focusing on the likelihood that Biden himself will bow out in the next election cycle, the analysis should center on whether beleaguered VP Kamala Harris should instead be jettisoned, even though she recently declared that she “will be running with him proudly,” should he mount a campaign.
Maher’s musings
Though Maher by no means brushed aside the many concerns about Biden’s cognitive decline, his assessment of the situation included a pragmatic understanding of the president’s likely attitude now that he has ascended to the highest office in the land and his probable unwillingness to walk away.
“Once you have that real estate, and you wake up in the White House, and your office is the Oval, I just don’t think you give it up,” Maher opined. “It’s very hard to take away the nomination from the president, a sitting president.”
As such, if Biden insists on running again in two years, according to Maher, he needs to give serious thought to tapping someone other than Harris to serve as his ticket-mate.
“What I could see is replacing the vice president. Because [Harris is] just not very popular anywhere. And it didn’t seem to work out. And, I don’t know, that’s been done before on a ticket,” Maher explained.
Remarking on the dilemma of whom the Democrats might support to replace Harris, Maher lamented half-jokingly that the party is “so boxed in by identity politics” that Biden would have to scramble to find a qualified woman, someone of color or, in his words, “a deaf Eskimo,” as Fox News noted.
Consistent critiques
Maher – a self-described liberal – has often surprised viewers with his matter-of-fact, no-nonsense takedowns of progressive politicians and priorities, a pattern that has gained steam in recent months.
As Deadline noted earlier this year, Maher has repeatedly explained that – despite musings from prominent conservatives to the contrary – he has not abandoned the left, but rather, the left has abandoned him in its drift toward the radical, progressive fringe.
“I am still the same unmarried, pot-smoking libertine I always ways. I have many flaws, but you can’t accuse me of maturing,” Maher said at the time.
“Let’s get this straight. It’s not me who’s changed, it’s the left. A large contingent has gone mental, and I’m willing to call them out,” the comedian added, referencing absurd progressive calls to cancel rent and Dr. Seuss and to declare Mr. Potato head a gender-neutral figure.
Giving voice to a sentiment with which millions of Americans can easily endorse, particularly in the post-COVID era, Maher added, “Democrats no longer possess the common sense to know that not every problem can be fixed with a regulation. Democrats have to stop thinking that what voters dream about is to be hassled.”