Although there is absolutely nothing wrong with Nancy Pelosi’s call for a “new generation” of leaders in the Democratic Party to assume positions of authority and power – even though many of us wish her call came earlier – the true test of whether Pelosi’s call will be answered is when Joe Biden decides to run or not in 2024. Logically, Nancy Pelosi’s call for a “new generation” of Democrats to step up while Joe Biden runs again cannot coincide with one another. Thus, if Joe Biden does decide to run again after the holidays, the best thing to do would be for the “Democratic National Committee” (DNC) to break what is seemingly a monopoly that Biden wants to foment and hold by having slipped into power through what was largely an emergency situation in 2020.
There are two other reasons for why there should be a wide and expansive presidential candidate pool on the part of the Democrats in 2024, aside from the need and the desire for a “new generation” of Democrats to step up as Pelosi suggested. One is the issue of credibility and legitimacy and the renewal of credibility and legitimacy on the part of the Democrats. When at least 70 percent of your party members want something new, you should give the people what they want, and by giving the people what they want and in turn establishing a popular mandate, the credibility and legitimacy issue is then resolved, and people can then relax.
Second, the process becomes more democratic if there were an expansion of the candidate pool for 2024. Not only does the process draw more interest from people when it is more democratic and when there are more choices, but the availability of more choices also reinforces the idea and notion that the American political process really is democratic, and that the process is not decided by just a few people under the guise of a “committee.”
Moreover, the signs that a fresh and new generation of leaders are prepared and ready to assume responsibility for their country’s affairs is evinced by the overwhelming support which Raphael Warnock received in his re-election bid in recent days and months, along with the election of the first late-millennial and early Gen-Z candidate for Congress.
There is no reason to suggest that Biden’s age or “experience” makes him more qualified than the “new generation” to assume responsibility for the country’s affairs. Biden has to explain and justify why he is more qualified than others to be president without using age and experience as an explanation and justification, and then his explanation and justification has to be upheld by the ballot box, not by James Clyburn. As a matter of fact, not only has Biden’s age and “experience” been a liability for the Democrats, but the way things have generally turned out in the whole world under Biden’s watch suggests that no one is more qualified than the other to assume responsibility for this country’s affairs, and that there is nothing inherent or special about Biden which in turn makes him more qualified than anyone else to assume responsibility for the country’s affairs.
No one in Biden’s administration was born with a divine decree or a mandate from God to run the country’s affairs. Nor did “experience” turn out to be an asset for Biden and his team. And when we take facts and statistics into account, it becomes clear that there is a credibility, legitimacy, and quality issue that needs resolution heading into 2024 on the part of the Democrats, at least on the executive level. How the issue of credibility, legitimacy, and quality gets resolved is absolutely clear to everyone. Much of it has to do with thinking outside the box on one hand while resorting to the facts and the statistics and popular will on the other hand. And arguably, when the credibility, legitimacy, and quality issue is resolved, everything else will fall into their rightful place.
Adam A. Azim 