For most of my adult life, I was a supporter of the Democratic Party because I favored their positions on the issues.  Today though, I am proud to be a Democrat because we hold our own leaders accountable.  Many Democratic politicians and commentators are heaping praise on President Biden for “putting the country first” by discontinuing his presidential campaign.  I too give Biden credit for ending his reelection efforts, something which I called for in my last post. But consider this though: if Democrats did not express any alarm after the June 27^th presidential debate with Trump, would President Biden reflect deeply on his performance and decide on his own volition “I don’t think I can continue to run”?  Biden dropped out because Democrats forced him to reconsider.  If there is something positive for people who care about liberal democracy to look back on regarding the past 3 weeks, it’s that the Democratic Party on all levels, from party leaders, donors, pundits and voters all saw Biden’s feebleness at the debate and worked to avert a potential catastrophe in November.  In other words, holding him accountable¹.

It can reasonable be argued that President Biden should not have run for reelection at all, which would have prevented the past three weeks of angst for the Democrats.  But it is never easy in any democracy to replace a leader of a political party before they are ready to step down.  Nor should it be easy.  When you can switch out leaders at the drop of a hat, it will be just like what occurred in Australia between 2010 and 2018, where 4 successive prime ministers were ousted by their own party MP’s².  Despite Biden’s age being an issue for several months before the debate, there had to be a specific catalyst that would provide the motivation and reason for Democrats act.  Biden’s performance in the June 27^th debate was just that signal and Democrats took advantage of the opportunity.

I am especially proud of the Democrats when I think of how the Republicans have dealt with Donald Trump.  In the same manner that Democrat privately worried about Biden’s age, Republicans in private despise (or did despise) Trump.  There were a few major opportunities for Republicans to act on those private feelings and hold Trump accountable for his major deficiencies, none bigger than after the January 6^th Capital Riots.  After the riots, what did party leaders do?  There were plenty of condemnation of the rioters, and some real anger at Trump for riling up the rioters.  But Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy merely made a casual suggestion that Trump should resign.  Republican congressmen in private expressed a desire to vote to impeach Trump while voting in public against the effort.  And what about Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell?  He bragged to his allies that “Trump had put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger” and that “Democrats were going to take care of him”, seemingly oblivious to the fact that if Democrats could have held Trump accountable by themselves, they would have done so long before January 6th.  Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Hakeen Jeffries did not wait for others to “take care” of Biden.  They took it upon themselves to nudge Biden out of the race when it needed to be done.

Over the past year, whenever controversy enveloped the Democratic party in any way, I would read comments online by people who ask: “why do Democrats have to be perfect, when Republicans are able to get away with so many flaws on their end”.  It is a sentiment I share.  It is profoundly unfair that Biden had to cease his reelection efforts due to the crime of getting old, but Donald Trump gets his allies to rally around him after being found guilty of actual crimes. But at a time where the institution that is called the Republican Party has become completely illiberal, and when the institution called the Supreme Court is putting up barriers to those trying to hold Trump accountable, it is necessary for the Democrats to be an exemplary institution.  Based on the electoral track record the past several years, Democrats have not had to sacrifice winning in the pursuit of basic liberal democratic principles.

While it was the full weight of the Democratic Party that nudged President Biden out the door, I give him credit for accepting the demands of his party, caring enough about his party and our country, and after a few stubborn weeks insisting he could win, bow out with grace and dignity.  I hope that Biden will look back at his years of public service with pride, and express joy that he achieved his goal of being elected President after over three decades of effort.

1. Democrats also held Senator Robert Menendez accountable by calling him en masse to resign after he was convicted of bribery, which he will do next month. What was the Republican’s position on this question? Just read here. I suppose the reaction is not surprising. Today’s G.O.P does not mind supporting convicted felons for high office! ↩︎
2. Kevin Rudd in 2010, Julia Gillard in 2013, Tony Abbott in 2015, and Malcolm Turnbull in 2018 ↩︎