With Biden, Dems need to change the narrative from a popularity contest to a story about issues and performance

“I am not a member of any organized political party – I am a Democrat.” Will Rogers (1879-1935), one of his era’s funniest and widely loved humorists and social commentators.

True then, true now.

Watching the demoralizing stand-off in the Democratic Party as Election Day looms closer calls Rogers and his observation to mind. Rogers, born on the Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma, understood the yin-yang of the Democratic Party: the power of Democrats comes from their disparity, but it’s that very disparity that can quickly turn into a collective identity crisis.  

Republicans never seem to have that problem. They tend to be more lock-step. Every presidential election I can recall was typically a race between unified Republicans (I’m remembering Nixon, Reagan and Trump most vividly) and uncertain, divided Democrats. Look at what Sanders did to Hillary’s campaign in 2016 and Gore’s loss of Democratic votes to challenger Ralph Nader in 2000. Then there was that debacle in ‘68, when a fading LBJ quit the race and a cluster of Dem contenders couldn’t put anything coherent together because they were all discombobulated by Vietnam.

Will Rogers had it right. Democrats are often a disorganized lot.

President Biden’s unwillingness to turn over the car keys because he’s too old to drive has brought the party to a politically precarious point. And, to extend the alliteration, you might want to throw in the word “perilous.” Democrats are now spending more time on succession discussions than the ultra-necessary narratives about what the party accomplished during Biden’s tenure in the White House and what it plans to do in the future.  

All this makes you want to hold your hands over your ears and start yelling, “Stop it, Dems!  You’ve got to get it together!”

Those of us who would rather not endure another four years of Trump as president couldn’t be more disheartened. What’s especially galling is that the issues of the campaign favor Democrats:

The economy? Strong, strong, strong.

Abortion rights? A clear winner for Democrats. Even in this deep red state of South Dakota, voters have demonstrated that they favor the right of women to control their own bodies.

Immigration? Illegal border crossings are down 40% since Biden stopped asylum processing. What’s more, Dems (with Republican input) had a plan that came to grips with the situation by hiring 2,700 new U.S. Border Patrol agents and ICE officers and giving them new authority, codified in law, that would allow them to remove single adults without a lengthy judicial review — but it was killed in Congress at the behest of Donald Trump, who pressured Republicans initially supporting it to vote “no.” 

Crime?  Violent crimes are down substantially since Biden took office.  

Democrats, who may be stuck with the aged and halting Biden as their standard-bearer in November, have to turn the election narrative. Despite his excellent track record over the past four years, Biden’s age seems likely to be the main focus of the coming campaign, overshadowing considerations of policy, principles and performance. I hope Biden quits, but if he doesn’t it’s up to him and his party to make this a campaign focused on issues.

I wish them good luck with that because it might be the only chance the party has. Dems simply have to make it clear that a vote for Biden (seen above in a 2024 public domain photo posted on wikimedia commons) is a vote for an administration, not just one man; a vote for a well-defined set of plans and beliefs, not just a guy who, though lacking charisma and beset by the problems of old age, is still the face of a wide-ranging set of successfully implemented principles and policies.

As I said, I wish them good luck with that.

John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills. He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for 20 years. His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald. Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a 13-month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam. Reprint with permission.