SAUNDERS: An outpouring of love for unpopular Biden, the president pushed aside

CHICAGO — It must have been a rough plane ride for President Joe Biden and his family, who left the White House for Chicago so he could address a Democratic National Convention that joyfully had moved on to Vice President Kamala Harris as his party’s nominee.

One month ago, he had been planning to stay in the race. He expected to accept his party’s nomination Thursday night. But on July 21, Biden released a letter in which he announced he believed it was “in the best interest of my party and my country to stand down” from seeking re-election. He endorsed Harris as his successor.

And so he addressed the DNC on a Monday night — prepared to fly off with his wife, Jill, and other family members to Santa Ynez, California, to take a break from public life before serving his final five months in elected office.

On the flight to Chicago, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters she would stay with Biden “until the end.”

Biden, 81, believed he was the only Democrat who could beat Donald Trump, 78, even after a terrible performance during a debate with Trump on June 27.

But the party had moved on because voters could not unsee what they had seen: a president in decline.

And so Biden bowed to the inevitable. First lady Jill Biden looked at Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and graciously offered, “Kamala and Tim. You will win.”

After family, friends and fellow Democrats saluted the outgoing president, Biden approached the podium with tears in his eyes. It was truly moving.

“You cannot say you love your country only when you win,” Biden declared, not for the first time.

But after he relived the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, he went through a litany of woes in a manner that was, well, downright Trumpian. (Biden mentioned Trump a lot more than he mentioned Harris.)

After she successfully pushed Biden to abandon re-election, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi praised Biden for being “selfless.” Her lavish, spit-out-your-coffee praise is her way of, well, to paraphrase Sarah Palin, putting lipstick on a pig.

Note that Pelosi’s beef with Biden was not that he lacked the mental sharpness to be the president, but that he could not win in November.

As I watched the gush of love for Biden, I could not help but think of former California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who, in 1992, the year of the woman, stormed into office arm in arm with Dianne Feinstein, who was running concurrently in a special election to fill Gov. Pete Wilson’s former seat. Suddenly California had two female powerhouses in the Senate.

Feinstein stayed in office until she died at age 90 in 2023. Boxer stunned political insiders when she announced she would not run for re-election in 2016. Guess who won Boxer’s seat? Kamala Harris.

What happens in November is anybody’s guess. Thing is, Harris won the Senate seat held by Boxer because she took the risk and ran.

Unlike this time.

In 2024, the candidate who had to bail out before she lost Iowa in 2020 is the Democratic nominee without a single vote.

This year, many voters are skeptical about elections and believe the system is rigged. Sadly, they’ve just been told how right they are.

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.