Washington Post Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Kathleen Parker believes she has an answer to the concerns many voters have about President Joe Biden’s age and fitness for office: Put Hillary Clinton on the ticket with him.
She argued in a piece earlier his month, before Thursday evening’s ‘Biden Horror Pictures Show,’ that the prospect of Vice President Kamala Harris having to step up to complete a Biden second term is actually a drag on the Democratic ticket going into November’s election.
A Politico/Morning Consult poll conducted in late May found just 40 percent believed she would make a good president, while 51 percent thought she would not.
The FiveThirtyEight average of polls shows Harris’ approval rating underwater, with approximately 49 percent disapproving and 39 percent approving.
That’s not much better than Biden’s 56 percent disapproval and 38 percent approval rating from before the dismal debate.
Biden, 81, is already the oldest to ever serve as president, with Ronald Reagan previously holding the record at 77 when he left office in January 1989.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll released in February found that 86 percent of Americans think Biden is too old to serve a second term.
“The problem isn’t his numerical age,” Parker wrote. “People age in different ways. In some cases, people hardly age at all, they’re so physically fit and mentally astute. But even the most robust 80-year-old would be challenged to keep pace with the White House job. Far younger presidents have turned gray in the Oval Office.”
“Biden’s steady decline the past few years — his stumbles, his search for words, his occasional blank stare — has been impossible to ignore. Such change isn’t a reflection of character; it’s part of the natural order of life, and it isn’t ageist to take note,” she added.
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So what’s the answer to the dilemma if Democrats don’t want to risk losing to Donald Trump?
Parker argued for putting 76-year-old Clinton on the ticket with Biden and giving Harris the face-saving golden parachute of being attorney general or some other position in the administration.
Harris previously served as California’s AG, so she would have some sense of what the federal job would entail.
Parker contended adding Clinton to the Democrat ticket would reassure persuadable voters who are concerned about Biden’s fitness that the former secretary of state would be there to steady or replace him, if necessary.
The columnist conceded that Clinton, at this point in her life, “might want no part of it, but it’s hard to retire when you feel your job isn’t done. If Biden needs to step down, even those who didn’t vote for Clinton would have confidence in her ability to keep the country on track. It’s just a thought, but worse ideas have met with regrettable success.”
Clinton does appear to be raising her profile, perhaps to be available if Biden should falter or Democrats decide to replace him at their convention in August.
Earlier this month, she endorsed Westchester County Executive George Latimer in his successful bid to defeat “squad” member Rep. Jamaal Bowman in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the 16th congressional district seat in New York.
The choice provided an opportunity for her to burnish a more centrist position.
Further, Clinton has a new book, “Something Lost, Something Gained” coming out in September, just seven weeks before November’s election, Axios reported.
The book’s publisher Simon & Schuster says it will offer a “warning to all American voters,” along with “her unvarnished views on politics, democracy, the threats we face, and the future within our reach.”
The next several weeks in the presidential race could be very interesting, with perhaps one of the most stunning developments of all: Hillary Clinton back on a presidential ticket.
