The Wild Reed: On This Momentous Day in U.S. Politics, a Visit to the Prayer Tree

Earlier today United States President Joe Biden announced that he has exited the 2024 presidential race. Reports The Hill:

[Biden’s announcement marks] a stunning end to a 50-year-long political career that culminated in caving to pressure from fellow Democrats to end his bid for reelection, which never fully recovered from an abysmal debate performance on June 27. Biden, 81, announced Sunday he will no longer seek another four years in office after his physical and mental acuity were called into question following a prime-time debate in which he struggled to finish sentences, gave confused looks and fumbled through his answers.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote in a letter posted to social media. . . . He later endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party’s nominee in November.

In the hours after Biden’s announcement, I noticed that a number of friends were posting memes on Facebook featuring a photograph of Harris with the words, “I’m with her,” as if she already had the nomination.

I felt compelled to respond to this meme by sharing the following:

I’m with whomever secures the nomination at the convention. I strongly believe that this is not the time to “anoint” or “coronate” one particular candidate. Let the democratic process play out, as messy and chaotic as it may initially be. I trust that the end result will be the strongest candidate to both defeat Trump and lead the country forward for the next four years.

I also felt people’s temperature rising (mine included) at the clear and rapid establishment of two camps – one that wishes just to allow Harris to become the nominee on the word of Biden and the fact that she’s the vice president, and another that sees an open, transparent, and democratic primary as being the way to discern the strongest candidate. Obviously, I’m in the second “camp.”

And so, it seems, is Vice President Harris. For later this afternoon she released a statement in which she said that she is looking forward to “earning and winning the nomination.” To my mind, this implies an open convention, perhaps even a blitz mini-primary, though, realistically, I fear the time for that may have past due to the dithering of Biden to step aside. Still, overall, I find her words heartening.

If there is an open convention I look forward to a range of Democratic candidates making their case for why they should be the nominee – among them my preferred candidate, the progressive Marianne Williamson, who released the following five-and-a-half-minute video earlier today.

I hope others also “throw their hat in the ring,” as they say, including Pete Buttigieg, Gretchen Witmer, Gavin Newsom, Stacey Abrams, Dean Phillps, Cory Booker, Andy Beshear and, of course, Kamala Harris. There is so much talent and leadership out there. I hope the Democratic National Convention is opened up so that such leadership can shine forth, inspiring not just Democrats but the American people at large.

This was my prayer at the Prayer Tree this afternoon. In particular, I really hope Marianne Williamson’s voice and message is included as she is the sole progressive candidate currently in the race. She (along with Rep. Dean Phillips) was treated atrociously during the Democratic primaries, if you could even call them that. Indeed, the idea that the 2024 primaries were in any way democratic is a joke and a sham. And the fact that so few don’t know this speaks to two things: (i) how well the DNC and its media lapdogs suppressed the democratic process, and (ii) how little attention most people pay to the shenanigans of the DNC. The oft-heard contention that Biden “won” the primaries as if they were a fair competition is proof of this.

And as my friend Ben says:

The DNC manipulated the process. Some state primaries were flat out cancelled, and there were lawsuits because of it. Biden didn’t participate in the two primary debates. CNN and MSNBC gave insignificant coverage to the primary. Shouldn’t Biden have been focusing on energizing the 2020 coalition that got him elected? And if he was afraid to debate his Democratic opponents, maybe he shouldn’t even have been a candidate. There were some really stupid decisions that got us here, and they should be revisted.

Well, hopefully at the Democrats’ open convention in Chicago next month, things will not only be revisted but rectified, a process that will include hearing from Marianne. Moving forward, that is what I want to focus on, advocate for, and work toward. And it may mean travelling to Chicago to support Marianne, just as my friend Kate and I travelled to New Hampshire in January to work with her and her campaign.

I close with words from Marianne Williamson herself. First is a statement she released in response to today’s news of President Biden’s exiting from the presidential race. Second is an excerpt from a statement she issued yesterday calling for Biden to step aside and for an open convention.

_____________________

I want to take a moment to express my gratitude and respect to President Biden. He reached what had to have been an extremely difficult decision, but he did what is best for his party and his country. Clearly in his heart he shares the goal of the many millions of Americans who wish to see Democrats defeat Donald Trump in November.

The nomination of a new Democratic candidate must be opened to a genuinely democratic process at an open convention. No one should simply be anointed to the position of nominee; all candidates must be heard and their agendas explored. Our party’s basic first principle is democracy. We cannot save our democracy without practicing it ourselves.

I look forward to taking my message to the American people, and convincing Democratic delegates, that I am the best candidate to take us to victory in November. Donald Trump has broken the mold, and we must break it too. He has introduced an age of political theatre that cannot be successfully countered by a status quo politician, however good they might be, for we are living in a different kind of moment.

We will inspire the American people with a compelling vision of their improved material conditions should they elect Democrats in November. My proposed policy prescriptions dismantle the matrix of corporate tyranny that now limits the economic opportunities of a majority of Americans.The Democratic party must recommit to our most important first principle: an unequivocal advocacy for the working people of the United States.

We will not bend to the economic royalists who have ripped apart America’s social safety net and caused such suffering to so many people. We will reform the economy. We will save the planet. And we will wage peace. That is my message, and with it we will win.

– Marianne Williamson
July 21, 2024

– Image: Molly Matalon
(The New York Times)

Do we need a Democrat to beat Donald Trump? Oh YES! But the soul of the Democratic party does not lie with the Democratic Party machine. I am an FEC registered qualified candidate. I am on the ballot. And despite a media blacklisting of my campaign and the most absurd kinds of character assassination, I received half a million votes in the primary. The only reason I was painted as an “unserious” candidate is because those who did the painting know how serious I am.

My platform would be considered moderate in any other advanced democracy. It includes plans that are supported by a majority of both Republicans as well as Democrats – such as Medicare for All, and tuition-free college and tech school. It speaks to the need for fundamental economic reform to address the extraordinary anxiety among 39 percent of Americans who are skipping meals to pay their rent and 25 percent of Americans who carry medical debt. It speaks to unrigging our economy, and our need for an Economic Bill of Rights. It speaks to the horrors of the addicted and the unjustly imprisoned. It speaks to the needs of our children and the toxicity of our food supply. It speaks to the climate emergency and to our need to wage peace.

I hope my supporters – as well as those who do not necessarily support my agenda yet support the practice of democracy itself, and do not agree with political parties should have the right to obstruct it or manipulate it – will join me in insisting that I have the right to be in any open convention contest going forward. Any debates. Any Town Halls. Any contention whatsoever.

No, I’m not politics as usual. But that is the point.

Neither is Donald Trump . . . which is why I’m the one to beat him.

– Marianne Williamson
July 20, 2024

NEXT:
Marianne Williamson: “‘Vote Blue No Matter Who’
Is Not Enough to Win in November”

Related Off-site Links:
Joe Biden Drops Out of Presidential Race – Sharon Zhang and Chris Walker (TruthOut, July 21, 2024).
Biden Drops Out of Presidential Race; Democrats Promise “Orderly Process” to Replace Him, While Harris Vows to “Earn and Win” Party Nomination – AP News (July 21, 2024).
Biden to “Stand Down”; Endorses Kamala Harris – Common Dreams (July 21, 2024).
Biden Drops Out, Backs Kamala – Breaking Points (July 21, 2024).
It’s Been Easy to Forget How Bad Kamala Harris Is – Elizabeth Nolan Brown (Reason, July 21, 2024).
Democratic Candidate Marianne Williamson Calls for Open Convention – Jackson Walker (Local 12, July 21, 2024).
Biden’s Slow Exit Reveals the Flaws in the Democratic Party’s Culture – Norman Solomon (TomDispatch via Common Dreams, July 24, 2024).
Kamala Harris Secures Delegate Votes Needed to Become Democratic Nominee – Reuters via ABC News (August 2, 2024).

For artictles about the DNC’s and Biden administration’s unfair manipulation of the 2024 Democratic primaries, see:
Looking Back, the Democratic Party Rigged the Primary Process for Biden – Dennis Kucinich (The Kucinich Report, July 23, 2024).
DNC Sabotage: The Silencing of Marianne Williamson and the Fight for a Fair Democratic Process – ElleBeah LB (ElleBeah’s Substack, July 21, 2024).
Partisan Primaries Failed to Vet President Biden – Jeremy Gruber and John Opdycke (The Fulcrum, July 19, 2024).
Biden is Lying About the Sham Democratic Primaries – Jeff Alson (The Hill, July 9, 2024).
Marianne Williamson Accuses DNC of “Rigging” the Primary System for Biden – Steven Shepard (The Hill, March 5, 2024).
Are the Presidential Primaries Rigged? – Nate Plautz (Represent Us, February 15, 2024).
Biden and Trump Both Tilted the Playing Field – Steven Shepard (Politico, February 3, 2024).
Biden Is Wielding the DNC’s Power to Crush a Potential Primary Challenge in 2024 – Norman Solomon (Salon, February 3, 2023).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Prayer Tree (2017)
• The Prayer Tree . . . Aflame (2018)
• In the Midst of the “Great Unraveling,” a Visit to the Prayer Tree (2023)
• A Visit to the Prayer Tree (2023)
• The Mysticism of Trees
• Progressive Perspectives on the Crisis in U.S. Electoral Politics
• Yes, Just Imagine
• “The Absolute Gall”
• Progressive Perspectives on the Biden-Harris Ticket (2020)
• Beto, Biden and Buttigieg: “Empty Suits and Poll-Tested Brands” (2019)
• Progressive Perspectives on Joe Biden's Presidential Run (2019)

See also: Marianne 2024 Official Site | About | Issues | News | Events | Donate

4 comments:

Percy7:56 AM
Reading opinionators across the spectrum over the last 36 or so hours, it seems some people are more upset than others.

Among them are people who self-soothe with what may be called "escalationist" copium that, with Trump & the MAGA GOP instead of Biden and "corporatist" Democrats, America will have a profound immune/allergic response that shocks it into finally abandoning [insert negative phrase for recent Democratic presidencies treated as if they were equivalent] and become the progressive Left country it ought to be.

That America is not likely to be happening ever in our life times. We've seen this movie before, and if anything we're on the descent from our recent peak progressive spasm - predictably brief - and appear on the slide down to many more years of reaction. The question is whether we can blunt and even stop/reverse the advance of reaction.
Percy8:07 AM
I am incredibly grateful that the Biden administration did two very progressive things on the domestic front that, if sustained, would represent a reversal of 50 years of reaction:

1. Decisively reversing the rollover-and-play-dead approach to antitrust enforcement that has been in continuous practice since Robert Bork's time at the DOJ in the Nixon-Ford administrations and that has resulted in the consolidation of Capital at levels unseen since before World War I.

2. Reversing decades of at best limp (under Carter-Clinton and, to a lesser degree, Obama) support for, and typically hostile (under all GOP administrations) to, labor.

Those two things are huge if they can be sustained in the long run. They are not the glittering goals of activist dreams. They are practical - and can be very effective.

And, for what it is worth, even with the horror of the Gaza War, the Biden administration has been the administration most hostile to captivity by the Israel-Saudi axis since the early part of the George H.W. Bush administration (before Operation Desert Storm). It may seem inconsequential, and certainly doesn't feel consequential, but it's that kind of pivot on which less regress can be built effectively over time if sustained.
Percy8:13 AM
PPS: The big thing we never got on the domestic front - the thing that was Elizabeth Warren's ostensible price for leaving the 2020 primaries - was an overhaul of the 2005 Bankruptcy Act of which Biden (as then Senator from MBNA) was chief sponsor and that caused so much misery to ordinary people during and in the wake of the Great Recession. Sadly, American voters did not elect in either 2020 or 2022 a House and a Senate that would together be able to pass such a thing.

I can't help but notice no one talking about this policy item (for all the blather about student loan debt, there is no real focus on the 2005 legislation itself - that dog that is no longer barking is another sign of yet another progressive Left embrace of gestures over practical effectiveness). What happened in 2005 was actually an exception to the longer dominance of comparative leniency in US bankruptcy policy since the mid-1800s.
Michael J. Bayly8:47 AM
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Percy.

Sunday, July 21, 2024

On This Momentous Day in U.S. Politics, a Visit to the Prayer Tree

4 comments: