Democratic Strategist Explains What Joe Biden's Legacy Will Be After Dropping Out Of 2024 Election

2 months ago

Democratic strategist Melissa DeRosa joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss President Biden's decision to step out of the 2024 presidential race and the likely Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00President Biden really caught a lot of people flat-footed on Sunday when he made that announcement

00:04right before 2 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon that he was dropping out of the 2024 race.

00:10And within the 48 hours since, Democrats have really rallied behind Kamala Harris.

00:15And the Biden campaign almost feels like a distant memory two days later.

00:21So what do you think President Biden's legacy is going to be?

00:24You know, time will tell what Joe Biden's legacy is.

00:27I remember at the end of the Clinton administration, everyone thought forever he would be remembered

00:30by Monica Lewinsky because it was the last major thing that happened in his presidency.

00:35And at the end of the day, I don't, you know, people remember that that happened, but I

00:38think it's more of a footnote to his overall time in office.

00:41And with Joe Biden, I think in the short term, Joe Biden is going to be remembered for not

00:47getting, you know, not handing the baton over soon enough, unfortunately, that 90 minutes

00:51in the debate changing the course of history in this last month.

00:55And, you know, as someone who essentially, it appears people in the highest levels of

00:59the White House could have engaged in some sort of a cover up about his true, you know,

01:03health and his social immunity.

01:05And so I thought it was, you know, Nancy Pelosi is the best politician of our lifetime.

01:11I don't say that lightly, the way that she engineered getting him out and also making

01:17sure that everyone praised him on the way out the door and saying, you're a real, you

01:21know, incredible American, you're putting this country over party.

01:25I think that they said to him, if you do the right thing by the end of the day on Sunday,

01:29you will get that hero's reading.

01:31And so I think at the convention, you're going to see a lot of that.

01:34I would imagine there will be videos, speeches and saying, you know, the Democratic Party

01:38does what the Republican Party doesn't do.

01:40We put the country before we put ourselves.

01:43But I think we would all be kidding ourselves if it's at least in the short term, the

01:46legacy isn't tainted by what's happened in the last three months.

01:50And as you mentioned, the debate three weeks ago was the beginning of the end of

01:57President Biden's reelection campaign.

01:59How important is a debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump?

02:04I think it's it's funny because I generally don't think debates matter that much unless

02:08someone scores a major point or somebody, you know, has a major gaffe.

02:12And then we saw the debate a few weeks ago and all of a sudden, you know, you're like,

02:16OK, debates actually matter.

02:17I think because it's going to be the first time they're on equal footing, it's going

02:21to be incredibly important.

02:23You know, the bar was so low before she is a prosecutor.

02:26She was in courtrooms.

02:28She was a district attorney.

02:29And so I think that, you know, before you had Joe Biden, who could barely stick

02:34sentence together. And now you're going to have this very polished, articulate, strong

02:38woman who's used to arguing for a living.

02:40And what I'm more interested in is to see whether Donald Trump has to wiggle out of

02:45the debate. If he tries to cancel the September 10th, which is the date, I think

02:51you're going to see a lot of people saying, what are you scared of the girl?

02:54Like, you know, I think the dynamic is so it's we're in such uncharted territory.

02:58But I think if he tries to weasel out of that debate, which I think that's what we

03:01should all be watching for, because I'm sure his advisors are saying you have nothing to

03:05gain there. She has everything to gain and you have everything to lose.

03:09But he's going to try to weasel out.

03:10But I think given the fact that he's going up against a woman, it makes him doing that

03:15hard for somebody with an ego to decide.

Democratic Strategist Explains What Joe Biden's Legacy Will Be After Dropping Out Of 2024 Election

Category

Transcript

Recommended