WASHINGTON: Joe Biden’s name wasn’t on the ballot, but history will likely remember Kamala Harris’ resounding defeat as his loss too.
As Democrats pick up the pieces following President-elect Donald Trump’s decisive victory, some of the vice president’s backers are expressing frustration that Biden’s decision to seek reelection until this summer — despite longstanding voter concerns about his age and unease about post-pandemic inflation as well as the US-Mexico border — all but sealed his party’s loss of the White House.
“The biggest onus of this loss is on President Biden,” said Andrew Yang, who ran against Biden in 2020 for the Democratic nomination and endorsed Harris’ unsuccessful run. “If he had stepped down in January instead of July, we may be in a very different place.”
Biden will leave office after leading the US out of the worst pandemic in a century, galvanizing international support for Ukraine in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion and passing a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that will impact communities for years to come.
But having run four years ago against Trump to “restore the soul of the country,” Biden will make way after just one term for his immediate predecessor, who overcame two impeachments, a felony conviction and an insurrection launched by his supporters. Trump has vowed to radically reshape the federal government and roll back many of Biden’s priorities.
“Maybe in 20 or 30 years, history will remember Biden for some of these achievements,” said Thom Reilly, co-director of the Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy at Arizona State University. “But in the shorter term, I don’t know he escapes the legacy of being the president who beat Donald Trump only to usher in another Donald Trump administration four years later.”
The president on Wednesday stayed out of sight for the second straight day, making congratulatory calls to Democratic lawmakers who won downballot races as well as one to Trump, who he invited for a White House meeting that the president-elect accepted.
Biden is set to deliver a Rose Garden address Thursday about the election. He issued a statement shortly after Harris delivered her concession speech on Wednesday, praising Harris for running an “historic campaign” under “extraordinary circumstances.”
Some high-ranking Democrats, including three advisers to the Harris campaign, expressed deep frustration with Biden for failing to recognize earlier in the election cycle that he was not up to the challenge. The advisers spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
Biden, 81, ended his reelection campaign in July, weeks after an abysmal debate performance sent his party into a spiral and raised questions about whether he still had the mental acuity and stamina to serve as a credible nominee.
But polling long beforehand showed that many Americans worried about his age. Some 77 percent of Americans said in August 2023 that Biden was too old to be effective for four more years, according to a poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs.
The president bowed out on July 21 after getting not-so-subtle nudges from Democratic Party powers, including former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He endorsed Harris and handed over his campaign operation to her.
Harris managed to spur far greater enthusiasm than Biden was generating from the party’s base. But she struggled to distinguish how her administration would differ from Biden’s.
Appearing on ABC’s “The View” in September, Harris was not able to identify a decision where she would have separated herself from Biden. “There is not a thing that comes to mind,” Harris said, giving the Trump campaign a sound bite it replayed through Election Day.
The strategists advising the Harris campaign said the compressed campaign timetable made it even more difficult for Harris to differentiate herself from the president.
Had Biden stepped aside early in the year, they said, it would have given Democrats enough time to hold a primary. Going through the paces of an intraparty contest would have forced Harris or another eventual nominee to more aggressively stake out differences with Biden.
The strategists acknowledged that overcoming broad dissatisfaction among the American electorate about rising costs in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and broad concerns about the US immigration system weighed heavy on the minds of voters in key states.
Still, they said that Biden had left Democrats in an untenable place.
Harris senior adviser David Plouffe in a posting on X called it a “devastating loss.” Plouffe didn’t assign blame. He noted the Harris campaign “dug out of a deep hole but not enough.”
At the vice president’s concession speech on Wednesday, some Harris supporters said they wished the vice president had had more time to make her pitch to American voters.
“I think that would have made a huge difference,” said Jerushatalla Pallay, a Howard University student who attended the speech at the center of her campus.
Republicans are poised to control the White House and Senate. Control of the House has yet to be determined.
Matt Bennett, executive vice president at the Democratic-aligned group Third Way, said this moment was the most devastating the party has faced in his lifetime.
“Harris was dealt a really bad hand. Some of it was Biden’s making and some maybe not,” said Bennett, who served as an aide to Vice President Al Gore during the Clinton administration. “Would Democrats fare better if Biden had stepped back earlier? I don’t know if we can say for certain, but it’s a question we’ll be asking ourselves for some time.”
Joe Biden gets blamed by Harris allies for the vice president’s resounding loss
https://arab.news/rswm9
Joe Biden gets blamed by Harris allies for the vice president’s resounding loss
- Biden is set to deliver a Rose Garden address Thursday about the election
Pakistan Embassy denies role in Kabul visa black market as Afghans turn to agents
- Arab News investigation earlier found how Afghans resort to tour agents, pay up to $1,800 to obtain Pakistani visas
- Any additional money charged by travel agents is ‘outside the purview’ of the embassy, spokesperson says
KABUL: The Pakistani Embassy in Kabul has rejected reports of knowledge of a black market for Pakistani visas, emphasizing its unwavering commitment to a fair and accessible visa system for Afghans.
An Arab News investigation published last month found Afghans resorting to tour agents and paying exorbitant prices to obtain Pakistani travel documents, with desperate applicants paying between $1,300 and $1,800 for visas that officially cost more than 50 times less.
In a rebuttal shared with Arab News, the Embassy of Pakistan in Kabul said it “has no official agents, intermediaries, or affiliated travel companies authorized to collect money” from visa applicants.
“The embassy’s official visa fee is published transparently and must be paid directly via credit card. We are aware that many applicants lack credit cards and often rely on local agents for assistance with the online payment,” Sayed Khizar Ali, the embassy’s press counsellor, said in a statement to Arab News.
“Our commitment to a transparent, fair, and accessible visa system for our Afghan brothers remains unwavering.”
Multiple travel agencies in Kabul and Nangarhar that earlier confirmed to Arab News that Pakistani visas are traded on the black market have maintained their statements.
“How can it be outside their control when we send applications and they come back approved within three days?” one manager of a travel agency who declined to be named told Arab News this week.
“The embassy stamps the visas. They know where they come from.”
He said his agency has been processing dozens of visas weekly since October, after tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan rose following a week of deadly clashes at their shared border.
“The travel agencies that are registered with them, we are the only way. If you don’t go through us, you won’t get a visa,” he said.
Despite the embassy’s denial that it does not work through travel agents, public advertisements by several tour agents offering services for “guaranteed” medical and tourist visas can be seen both online and on their storefronts. Though prices are negotiated privately, many openly promise quick turnarounds of just a few days.
The Afghan Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to requests for comment, despite repeated attempts by Arab News.
Pakistan’s visa fee for Afghan nationals is approximately $25, paid through a fully digital online system. But applicants who attempt to follow this channel told Arab News the process often ends in silent rejection after months of waiting.
Asma, an Afghan national who has been trying to join her fiance in Switzerland, had to go through tour agents to obtain her and her father’s Pakistan visas.
“I applied online through the official channel. That was four months ago. I never heard anything back. No response, no explanation — just complete silence,” Asma told Arab News earlier.
The cost to obtain the travel documents was double for her, as her father also had to apply in order to accompany her due to Afghanistan’s strict travel rules for unmarried women.
“We heard from neighbors that some agencies in Kabul could get it done faster … We went there,” she said, adding that they received their visas on WhatsApp three days later — not through official channels but through a cousin’s contact.
One agency employee who agreed to speak anonymously earlier described a system organized around waiting lists and contacts at the Pakistani Embassy and consulates in Kabul, Nangarhar, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif.
“We have lists. Each list works like seats on a plane. When one list is full, we start filling the next. Every day, a list goes out — meaning visas are issued daily,” he said.
“These days, no visa costs less than $1,300 and none exceed $1,800. This rate has been stable for over a month.”
However, the Embassy of Pakistan in Kabul maintained that these reports are “unfounded and most unfortunate.
“Any additional money these private agents may charge applicants is an illegal and unofficial practice that occurs entirely outside the purview and control of the embassy.”
