WashPost Columnist to Biden: Drop Out of '24 Race

A liberal veteran Washington Post columnist has called for President Joe Biden to end his reelection bid.

Columnist and author David Ignatius, despite crediting Biden for "a remarkable string of wins" by governing "from the center out," said the 80-year-old president should bow out of the 2024 presidential race due to "two big liabilities:" his age and Vice President Kamala Harris.

"I don't think Biden and Vice President Harris should run for reelection," Ignatius wrote in a Post opinion column Tuesday.

"It's painful to say that, given my admiration for much of what they have accomplished. But if he and Harris campaign together in 2024, I think Biden risks undoing his greatest achievement — which was stopping [former President Donald] Trump."

Ignatius, 73, wrote that Biden's age concerns many Americans.

"He would be 82 when he began a second term. According to a recent Associated Press-NORC poll, 77 percent of the public, including 69 percent of Democrats, think he's too old to be effective for four more years," Ignatius wrote. "Biden's age isn't just a Fox News trope; it's been the subject of dinner-table conversations across America this summer."

Worries about Biden's age understandably puts added focus on Harris.

"She is less popular than Biden, with a 39.5 percent approval rating, according to polling website FiveThirtyEight," Ignatius wrote. "Harris has many laudable qualities, but the simple fact is that she has failed to gain traction in the country or even within her own party."

Ignatius suggested Biden could seek another running mate, perhaps Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass or Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

"But breaking up the ticket would be a free-for-all that could alienate Black women, a key constituency," the author wrote. "Biden might end up more vulnerable."

Ignatius noted that politicians who know Biden say he'll run if he believes Trump will be the Republican nominee because he believes he has the best chance to defeat the former president.

However, the author says, "time is running out" for Biden and Democrats to call an audible.

"In a month or so, this decision will be cast in stone," Ignatius wrote. "It will be too late for other Democrats, including Harris, to test themselves in primaries and see whether they have the stuff of presidential leadership.

"Right now, there's no clear alternative to Biden — no screamingly obvious replacement waiting in the wings. That might be the decider for Biden, that there's seemingly nobody else. But maybe he will trust in democracy to discover new leadership, 'in the arena.'"