After months of obsessing over the presidential race, it was shocking last week to listen to the annual Veterans Day commemoration at Arlington National Cemetery and see President Biden takes center stage. The almost forgotten president is too literally a lame duck; his stride gave way to a shuffling motion. He looks lost. He tried to project strength in his tribute, but you braced yourself for the verbal journeys.

Why did Biden think he could serve another four years?

Opinion columnist

Jackie Calmes

Jackie Calmes brings a critical perspective to the national political scene. She has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress.

He is so diminished in comparison to the politician I followed for 40 years, from the Senate to the Vice Presidency to the White House. At first, I respected his decision not to retire, as the Democrats did. At the end of 2022, Biden turned 80, but he celebrated exceptionally good midterm election results for his party and one of the most successful first two years of any president (aside from the withdrawal of the Afghanistan). He had secured landmark legislation, such as the Infrastructure Act, that would bear fruit for years to come.

And for the next four years, it’s Donald Trump who will grab the bragging rights.

It was mid-term that Biden should have announced that he would no longer run, that he would be the “bridge” to new leaders, as he said he would in 2020. The fact that he selfishly conceded far too late in 2024 helped doom the Democrats’ chances of retaining the White House, and thus dealt a blow to his own heritage. History will be kinder to him than Democrats, let alone voters, are now, but that’s little consolation for now.

But now it is time for his party to look to the future. More than a week after voters’ verdict, Democrats should stop finger pointing. They can look back long enough to identify and learn from the mistakes that allowed the election of a former president who still denies his 2020 defeat, conspired to overthrow it, incited insurrection, and snubbed the peaceful transfer of power – all detestable firsts.

The next step will be to confront Trump, whose first decisions – Fox News host Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense! Matt Gaetz for Attorney General! Elon Musk as de facto vice president! – suggest the radicalism and excesses that await us.

Moreover, their recriminations obscure the fact that Kamala Harris ran a close race, almost certainly closer than Biden would have.

When all the votes are finally counted, Trump’s margin of victory will be two percentage points or less – the smallest since 1968. Democrats did not expect to retain their slim Senate majority even if Harris won, and their candidates won in several states she lost. , limiting the new Republican majority. The Republicans retained the majority in the House, but just barely – and we saw how hampered they were by their agitation when they had no votes to spare.

Despite the self-flagellation of all Democrats who claim to appear arrogant and out of touch with Americans, particularly on the issue of transgender rights that Trump used so effectively against Harris, voters have in many cases sided with pro-ballot measures abortion rights, a higher minimum wage and obligations. paid leave, even in red states. Trump is promising mass deportations, but exit polls have shown that a majority of voters say undocumented immigrants should be able to apply for legal status, which Democrats favor.

The issue of immigration was one of the three “I’s” that generally damned the Democrats, along with inflation and Biden’s mandate. Harris, too deferential to the man who raised her, not only didn’t do enough to separate herself from the unpopular president, but she also gave a gift to Trump’s ad creators when she said a friendly inquisitor on “The View” that “nothing comes to mind” that she would have done differently than Biden. It was a rare mistake for Harris in a difficult late-start campaign, but a significant one.

The only thing worse than the Democrats backbiting would be denial. The Democrats do not deny it. They acknowledge that Trump’s gains relative to his past performance have been staggering. their width. He did better in most counties, including Democrats’ urban strongholds and even the Bronx and Queens. district represented by the icon on the left, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “The working class does not accept the ivory tower nonsense that the far left is peddling,” said Bronx Rep. Richie Torres. tweetedincluding “nonsense like “Defund the Police” or “From the River to the Sea” or “Latinx.” “It doesn’t matter that neither Biden nor most Democrats used those terms; They didn’t react much either.

Trump’s wresting of the working class from the Democrats is almost complete. The only question is whether his support is his own or whether it will transfer to post-Trump Republicans.

As annoying as the Democrats’ bickering is, it’s a sign of a healthy party. look inside after the losses. The Republican Party’s failure to do so after its defeats in 2018, 2020 and 2022 – and echoing Trump’s anti-democratic denials in 2020 – is a symptom of its ill health under his grip, despite this party’s victories. year. Democrats rightly lament that their far left has had too much influence, or even real power, but the far right not only influences the Republican Party, it runs it. This will be a problem in the future.

But for now, the problems are those of the Democrats. What has helped make their erosion in cities and suburbs so catastrophic is that they long ago abandoned rural America. It’s time to rebuild in both places, or at least to try.

The party has ample room for maneuver for the upcoming reconstruction. One of his talents, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, offered constructive advice in a New York Times article. opinion article Tuesday — he had me say “I refuse to play the blame game” — although his order mostly described what Democrats are already doing or trying, like expanding affordable health care. It’s still a start.

Meanwhile, one of the party’s big problems will soon resolve itself: in two months, Biden finally cedes the stage.

@jackiekcalmes