Posted on 02/17/2025 6:29:47 AM PST by DoodleBob
Michael C. Donilon, the chief strategist behind Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign, said Democratic leadership “lost its mind” when they ousted Biden from the party’s ticket, arguing he was their best chance at keeping the White House.
“The Democratic primary voters chose Joe Biden to be the nominee of the Democratic Party,” said Donilon, a spring fellow at the Institute of Politics. “The Democratic party leadership, and the biggest funders in America, didn’t.”
In a wide-ranging post mortem at the IOP Thursday evening, Donilon remained adamant that the former president would “still be the best” for the job – despite his poor performance in a June debate.
“Lots of people have terrible debates,” he said. “Usually, the party doesn’t lose its mind. But that’s what happened — it just melted down.”
Donilon, a member of Biden’s inner circle for over 40 years, denounced claims that the president’s acuity and judgment declined as an “impression” perpetuated by the media.
“It was getting written as this fact, ‘Oh, Biden was mentally impaired,’” Donilon said. “I don’t know how much time any of those people spent with him — I know how much time I spent with him. I know what I saw.”
Despite his vocal defense of Biden, Donilon admitted the party’s failure to center the race on preserving democracy in the wake of Jan. 6 gave Trump the upper hand.
“We undercut our ability to bring our best weapons to the fight,” he said.
He also traced Biden’s woes back to the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the ensuing chaos, referencing his poll numbers before and after the event.
“You can see his numbers in the low 50s and when Afghanistan happened, they dropped and never recovered,” Donilon said. “So it actually was really consequential.”
But despite a prevailing narrative that Biden was a “weak” leader, Donilon said that strength on the international stage would be a hallmark of Biden’s legacy, citing his diplomatic efforts in Israel and his unwavering support for Ukraine.
“What I can tell you is every time I saw Biden overseas, especially in Ukraine and NATO, he was the voice in the room,” Donilon said. “He was leading that effort. They had enormous confidence in his judgment.”
On the domestic stage, however, Donilon said that inflation loomed large in voters’ minds, making it difficult for Democrats to highlight Biden’s policy wins.
“I knew we were really up against it when I went to a grocery store in Northern Virginia, and on the front door was a little sign: ‘Don’t blame us for the price of eggs,’” he said.
As his party reacts to the first month of Trump’s second term, Donilon said Democrats must refocus the public debate on issues beyond the economy.
“We need to argue with strength on a range of cultural questions which we don’t want to step into. There’s this line that says, ‘It’s always the economy, stupid.’” he said. “But I’m not convinced.”
Well, when it comes to expressing half-a-year-expired nonsense, he’s a one-man tour-de-force.
LOL, these idiots not only can’t figure out why most of America voted against them, but they think sleepy Joe could have won...
The Democrat party leadership IS the Democrat Party.
Everyone else is just along for the ride.
“I’m Melting!!!”
Hopefully the Democrats listen to this guy for the next few decades.
Then they will become the Whigs.
Donilon surely saw the polls from just after the debate that had Trump close to even with Biden in New Jersey and coming close in New York. The Dem internal polls had Trump at or close to 400 electoral college votes. The Dems would have "lost their minds" if they kept Biden. Their best bet would have been to put someone other than Harris as the nominee. But Biden screwed that up.
Donilon went native years ago.
Well, now your out of a job, and (I should think) your career is over.
I think Bidog, in a rare lucid moment, purposely torpedoed them out of spite.
Still stuck on stupid.
He’s as blind as a Mammoth Cave Fish..............
The dude is correct, Camela had not one primary vote.
Whatever Democratic primary voter voted for Flatlinejoe is a traitor, an idiot, or a resident of some cemetery.
“There’s this line that says, ‘It’s always the economy, stupid.’ he said. ‘But I’m not convinced.’”
Well, you should be! But I’m happy that you’re not.
This is going to be four fun-filled years, watching the Bitter LOSERS tie themselves in knots. MAGA! :)
“I think Bidog, in a rare lucid moment, purposely torpedoed them out of spite.”
Well, there had been speculation that the debate was a setup because it was so early, early enough to dump Biden and nominate someone else. People argued this before the debate happened.
It was quite clear he didn’t have his drug cocktail that night as Trump suggested he would.
No loud talking or shouting like the State of the Union speech.
Then Democrats could say “Oh my goodness, Joe Biden has dementia! Who could have ever known?!” and proceed to put Shapiro or Newsom up in his place.
Of course I have nothing to offer as evidence this happened but from the looks of it that was a distinct possibility.
I think it is a lame effort at getting attention by rewriting the devastation of the Biden years as a success. People who speak at Harvard tend to do that sort of thing. Thing is, nobody cares about woulda-coulda-shoulda.
I agree
He is somewhat correct. Biden would have done better than Kamala. He may not have lost all 7 swing states.
for sure, that’s exactly what happened
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.