Opinion by Lydia Polgreen on June 28, 2024.

Like many Americans who watched the presidential debate Thursday night, I knew when it was over that there was no way I was going to sleep. So I did something I almost never do: tuned in to the pundit commentary on cable news. I’m glad I did. Not long after the debate, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on CNN with Anderson Cooper. Watching her calmly and methodically respond to a battering ram of questions from Cooper, it occurred to me: The obvious, logical path out of the mess President Joe Biden created with his disastrous debate performance is for him to bow out with honor and endorse his young, vigorous and talented vice president to stand in his stead.

I know, I know. You think I just fell out of a coconut tree. Didn’t Harris flame out in the last Democratic presidential primary, leaving just in time to avoid an embarrassing loss in her home state, California? Yes. But to win a primary you must thread the needle of introducing yourself to the base of the party while burnishing the case for your ideas and dissing the talents of your rivals, all while keeping your options open, because your opponents are also your future surrogates and allies. For women — and for Black women in particular — the gender and racial dynamics of the presidential primary race seem especially difficult to navigate.

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Dynamics Could Change on National Stage

Those dynamics would play out very differently on a national stage shared with Donald Trump. There, Harris would not be hectoring a fellow Democrat over relatively small differences in policy or attempting to polish her own record in comparison to a governor or fellow lawmaker. She can use her true superpower: She will be a relentless prosecutor of the very clear political case against Trump — a felon, a man found liable for sexual abuse, an inveterate liar, a demagogue, a threat to our democracy and to our Constitution.

I think I speak for a lot of women, probably the most decisive voting bloc in this election, when I say that I would love to see Harris cut Trump down to size. And unlike the blow she landed on Biden during the 2020 primary debate — “That little girl was me,” in response to Biden’s terrible answer about school busing policy — she would be in a ring with an actual bully who will be unable to help himself and treat her with menacing disrespect.

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Unlike Trump’s previous female debate rival, Hillary Clinton, nary a whiff of scandal has besmirched Harris. All Trump would have is personal attacks, which would only further reinforce his image as a bully. That could play especially poorly with moderate voters when directed at a mature Black woman.

Trump Gave a Dismal Performance

In the wake of Thursday night’s debate, it is easy to overlook how weak Trump is. He gave a dismal performance. He served up a platter of falsehoods and insults that actually turned off some voters, according to interviews I saw with debate viewers on television. But a rambling, sputtering Biden utterly failed to counter him.

Harris, with her killer instincts and poise, could have wiped the floor with Trump on the issues that matter most to voters. We forget that she was very successful not just as a prosecutor but also as a candidate for statewide office in California. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the first Trump administration she drew blood with her tough, calm and deliberate questions, managing to score viral moments without seeming like a theatrical showboater.

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It would have been satisfying to watch her face off against Trump on Thursday, not just for progressives but also for suburban women who wanted to see a full-throated fight for their reproductive rights, an issue on which Harris has been especially — and passionately — outspoken and Biden, a devout Catholic, has been muted. I disagree with her policies on the border, but there is no question Harris has been tough and compelling on immigration. She has been a popular surrogate on the campaign trail, and while she may not help that much with Black and Latino men, who in any case are less consistent voters, I believe she could energize Black women and young people.

A Campaign Is Not a Debate

A campaign is not a debate, and there is a long road ahead. But the job is to rouse the country out of an alternative universe in which the Trump presidency was actually not that bad. I think she can make that case better than almost anyone in the Democratic Party.

Her polling before this debate was not great — her favorables are as dismal as Biden’s — but recent polls in swing states have shown she could gain trust with voters should she step in for the president. Unlike a drafted candidate, she would start with low expectations she could quite easily exceed. In a world filled with peril, she has been involved in major national security issues, not relegated to ribbon cuttings. Paired with, say, a strong, centrist governor like Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania or Andy Beshear of Kentucky as her running mate, she could win this.

If Harris were to become the first woman president through this strange and extremely unlikely series of events, it would also be a perfect illustration of what it usually takes for women to get a chance to lead: A man makes a hash of an important job, and a woman must roll up her sleeves and clean it up. It would not be the same kind of triumphant moment that brought us our first Black president. But it would finally break that hardest and highest glass ceiling. I hope that the next woman president could come to office under more auspicious circumstances.

Giving the nod to Harris would have another benefit. It would allow Biden to end his long career in public service with dignity and honor. He will go down in history as the man who stopped Trump in 2020. Whatever expediency led Biden to choose Harris as his running mate, and it is clear that she was not a natural choice for him, she was ultimately his choice of successor should he be unable to serve. Creating a mad scramble to find a replacement while passing over the talented politician he already chose would simply be another example of Biden blowing it. Bowing out allows him to be a patriot and let the natural order of succession as he envisioned it unfold, preserving his legacy and sense of agency. That is not a small thing.

Harris 2024: It has a pretty nice ring to it.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Lydia Polgreen/Nic Anataya
c.2024 The New York Times Company
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