"Ridin' with Biden"...and Kamala Harris!

Get the Point!

For nearly two weeks, whenever I pick any time during the day or night to scroll on social or traditional media websites, one political question has stood out from all others:

"Is Joe Biden mentally and physically fit to serve a second term as President of the United States?"

While this question has been no stranger to the Hobbservation Point blog, too, as a problem solver by nature, training, and trades, I feel it necessary to assert that since Mr. Biden has declared multiple times since last Friday night’s interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos that he has no intention of withdrawing from this year's presidential race, that instead of focusing on what's problematic about his decision, perhaps it's time to consider what's good? 

To cut through the chase, the primary good is the way that the Executive Branch was set up by the Framers of the U.S. Constitution to avoid a monarchy or dictatorship that vests absolute power within one man (or woman).

Lest we forget that the formally educated among the Framers each was well schooled in Latin and the history of the Roman Republic, which is why Latin idioms like "E Pluribus Unum," or "From Many, One" were (and remain) commonplace on official coinage and correspondence—and why the very structure of our American Republic has certain aspects that were directly copied from the Ancient Romans, as I will discuss further below. 

The Framers, per Article II of the Constitution, provided that the president shall head the executive branch and be responsible for the enforcement of laws created by Congress—while serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. However, do note that within each of these roles, the sitting president is not alone, as Mr. Biden oversees 15 executive departments that are led by 15 Cabinet Secretaries who, ostensibly, are his chief advisors on all matters, both foreign and domestic!

President Biden presiding over a Cabinet meeting in 2022…

President Biden is also advised by the heads of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff and agency leaders from the FBI, CIA, Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Management and Budget, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Reserve Board. 

In addition to the above mentioned cabinet and agency heads, the American president is served by legions of lawyers and policy advisors who ensure that every single decision that impacts our nation is thoroughly vetted and carefully debated before he (or she) makes any lasting decision!

Biden signing his signature $1 trillion infrastructure Bill in November of 2021.

The second "good" that the Framers provided within the U.S.  Constitution is that the American President has a sitting Vice President, one whose constitutional duties include presiding over the U.S. Senate and most crucially, being prepared to succeed the president should he (or she) become physically infirm, mentally incapacitated, or die in office. 

Unless you've been in a Rip Van Winkle like sleep, you know that the major buzz over the past two weeks has been whether Democrats should push Joe Biden to abdicate his position in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman to hold the office in American history. This has ignited a debate among Democratic Party honchos as to whether:

1. Harris should be the automatic replacement at the top of the ticket should Biden stand down;

2. Harris should remain as V.P. with Hillary Clinton pinch hitting for Biden as the presidential nominee;

3. A mini-primary should be held allowing qualified Democrats, including VP Harris, to make their case for being the Party's nominee. 

I submit that none of the above three options is necessary at this time, because the Framers already provided the necessary construct for Biden’s potential incapacity in the form of a Biden and HARRIS joint ticket! 

Allow me to remind you of your old World History lessons from back in the day, and how the very Roman Republic that America's Founders "borrowed" from was actually governed from 509 B.C. to circa 27 B.C. During this period, there was the Roman Senate, of course, which debated and legislated foreign and domestic policy—and the executive officers known as "Consuls," of which there were two elected men who presided over the city-state's affairs. 

Depiction of the Roman Consuls, two leaders that shared executive power during the Roman Republic era…

Well, it was two male Consuls until it became three, or the "Triumvirs," during the First Century B.C., with Julius Caesar, Pompey Magnus, and Marcus Crassus forming the First Triumvirate prior to the Roman Civil War—and Octavian Caesar (Julius's nephew), Marc Antony, and Marcus Lepidus forming the Second Triumvirate that existed until 27 B.C., when Octavian declared himself the sole Emperor Augustus Caesar.

Now, the main point of the last paragraph's historical retrospective is not to warn against losing the American Republic, which is a separate consideration that I've been covering in the wake of the Republican Party's Project 2025 and its nominee, Donald Trump, constantly trolling on social media about assuming dictatorial powers should he defeat Biden this fall. Rather, I use it to remind that if the Roman Consuls and Triumvirs could SHARE power between two or three men during five centuries of territorial, economic, and military growth, that a Biden-Harris consulate ticket could do very much the same in 2025 and beyond!

Yes, I know that VP Harris has many detractors, even among Democrats! But I cannot think of any presidential or vice presidential candidate in American history that ever assumed their roles without intense scrutiny, some warranted and some not so warranted! Truth be told, Ms. Harris, should she become president, has more executive and legislative branch political experience than Donald Trump, Barack Obama, or George W. Bush had at the time they took the Presidential Oath of Office!

Yes, I know that Vice President Harris, much like Hillary Clinton, will face the harsh bigotry of low expectations among some Americans who simply refuse to feel comfortable with a woman serving as President; the rank misogyny against Harris has been so pronounced throughout her public career that it's a wonder that she shows up for the job on a daily basis!

But she does show up, and while the Biden administration heretofore has not overtly featured her all that much in public over the last four years, from the times that I have been able to watch her preside over Senate hearings, discuss political policy, or speak about issues including immigration, abortion rights, climate control, and race relations, I get the sense that she surely has the intellectual acuity to do as good a job—or better—in the Oval Office as any of her predecessors, including the two candidates for office this year, Presidents Biden and Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaking at the Black Economics Forum during last weekend's Essence Festival in New Orleans…

Such is why as the countdown to the 2024 Democratic Convention continues, I urge my friends in the Democratic Party to take heed that many of the same polls that suggest that Biden is vulnerable to Trump, also show that Trump is vulnerable to Kamala Harris! Which is why Trump in recent days has stopped talking trash on social media about Biden—and fixed his sights and vitriolic slights squarely on Kamala Harris! That's a silver lining at this moment, and an opportunity for Democrats to coalesce behind the concept of Biden-Harris being more like two Roman Consuls sharing power, than the typical strong president—with an “out of sight-out of mind” vice president, that's been the norm in American history. 

As always, drop me a note and let me know what you think!