Clooney’s Stinging Opinion Piece
Perhaps the most forceful case against Joe Biden’s re-election campaign wasn’t made by a politician or a pundit but by movie star George Clooney. In his stinging New York Times opinion piece, Clooney wasn’t alone.
A rising number of Democrats are establishing an obstacle to the president’s efforts to right his campaign this week—and maybe beyond.
Democratic Support Erosion
The backlash came days after the president seemed to regain momentum behind his health push, picking up the prestigious Congressional Black Caucus and major liberal members of Congress. But the dynamic of this political drama has again shifted with a high-profile NATO summit convening in the capital.
Withdrawing for Senator Peter Welch
By the evening of Wednesday, Vermont’s Peter Welch had become the first Democratic senator publicly to call upon Biden to step aside, in an op-ed, “for the good of the country”. This drumbeat of defections raises the stakes for Biden’s press conference at the end of the NATO summit on Thursday afternoon.
It will be his biggest unscripted test since his problematic debate two weeks ago, which triggered this crisis.
Upcoming Media Appearances
Biden has a taped interview with NBC News host Lester Holt on Monday. Any misstep in the coming day’s will only confirm the negative claims made by Clooney in the New York Times. The actor claims the president decline is a proven fact and references a fundraiser he held in Los Angeles last month. “‘The Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe. of 2010,’ he writes. ‘He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.'”
Clooney’s Critique of Biden’s Campaign
Continuing on, the star argues that the president is not prepared to be able to defeat Donald Trump in November. He calls the Biden campaign’s claim that he’s the choice of Democratic primary voters “disingenuous, at best.“ Probably most devastatingly, he says every prominent Democrat he has spoken with knows this—whether they are willing to publicly admit it or not. “We can put our heads in the sand and pray for a miracle in November,” he writes, “or we can speak the truth.”
BIDEN CAMPAIGN’S RESPONSE
Now, the Biden campaign is pushing back against Clooney’s piece, spotlighting the president had flown across nine time zones, from Italy and the G7 summit, to bathe in the star’s fundraiser. Campaign officials also emphasized recent disagreements between the president and the Clooneys about his administration’s Gaza policy. The opinion piece, published three weeks after the Los Angeles fundraiser, could be seen as timed for maximum impact.
Clooney’s Influence and Democratic Fundraising
But Clooney is no ordinary movie star. He is one of the most powerful fundraisers of Democrats since the election of Donald Trump, and much farther back as well. As a result, the fact that California, and in particular the Hollywood sector, constitutes basic building blocks of its financial base renders his comments beyond critical to Biden.
This is after other influential Democratic donors who expressed their dissatisfaction with Biden included Netflix chair Reed Hastings and IAC chair Barry Diller.
Ties to Former President Obama
Clooney is also close to former President Barack Obama, so it’s hard to fathom he would pen such a dramatic piece for the New York Times without at least some tacit sign-off from top Democrats. Marrying the Democratic turmoil, Trump wrote in a social media post about Clooney: “He’s turned on Crooked Joe like the rats they both are.”
Growing Democratic Dissenting
More and more high-profile Democrats are speaking out with warnings that the president would do well to heed. The Republican senator John Welch penned an article in The Washington Post which commended Biden’s selflessness and courage but implored him to put the needs of the country before his personal ambitions today. A little earlier, Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House, who still has much clout within the Democratic Party, did little to endorse Biden’s election hopes when given the chance. She suggested that the critics ought to shut up until at least the end of the NATO summit and that Biden wanted to decide very quickly whether he is going to remain a candidate for president. When the reporter reminded her that Biden had already indicated that he would continue in the race, she answered, “I want him to do whatever he decides to do.”
Patriotic Action
For Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, who was Hillary Clinton’s vice-presidential running mate in 2016, Biden is just doing what is best for the country. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is blunter: “I’m fully behind him as our nominee until he’s not our nominee.” It is as though Biden’s reluctant backers will not take “yes, I’m still In the race” for a satisfactory answer.
Meanwhile, even some of Biden’s staunchest defenders began to discuss “what if” scenarios. California Governor Gavin Newsom said he still supports the president and would not enter the race against Vice-President Kamala Harris if Biden decided not to run. Senate Democrats are holding a Thursday meeting with Biden campaign lawyers to consider the future of the campaign. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he will have a conversation directly with the president regarding Democratic concerns by Friday.
Uncertain Future
If Biden were to withdraw, what would happen next is still undefined. Some say that Harris, as the president’s running mate, is the next in line. Clooney says Democrats have to regroup and select a new nominee, not being specific on how he sees that happening. His comment about how a new nominee could avoid opposition research and negative campaigning sounds a bit naive.
Biden’s Control of Delegates
While the mood in Washington has turned against Biden in the past 24 hours, the mathematics of his situation hasn’t changed. The former vice president still controls a majority of national convention delegates who ultimately decide the party’s presidential ticket. While those delegates aren’t explicitly bound to support him, he could replace those who show too little fealty.
Polls and Alternatives
The polls have Biden slipping behind Trump, though not precipitously from before his calamitous debate. Few polls suggest an obvious alternative to him including his Vice President or the Democratic Party’s most-prominent governors faring markedly better. Even Biden’s detractors generally concede that the choice is his. But what Wednesday showed is that should he decide to, he might never be able to fully put to rest concerns about his age. His performance in the debate may have been a self-inflicted wound from which he never recovers.
