George Clooney has pulled out of Joe Biden. That’s right, the superstar actor who just helped the president raise a ton of money now wants Biden out of the race.
You may not care what a celebrity who is not in the political business has to say, but it is his logic that is important here.
“It saddens me to say this, but the Joe Biden I was with at a fundraiser three weeks ago was not the ‘big’ Joe Biden of 2010.” Clooney writes: As a New York Times op-ed yesterday put it, “He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we witnessed in the debates.”
This is coming from a lifelong Democrat supporter who has observed Biden up close and proclaimed his love for him.
“We cannot win the election in November with this president. Not only that, we cannot win the House and we will lose the Senate. This is not just my opinion, but the opinion of every single Senator, Congressman and Governor I have spoken to privately. Every single one of them, regardless of what they say publicly.”
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President Biden (R) greets actor George Clooney (L) during the Kennedy Center Awards Reception in the East Room of the White House, Sunday, December 4, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
That’s the strangeness of the political limbo we’re in. I’ve wondered if Biden would be ousted if every Democrat could secretly vote to reject his nomination, but we don’t have a parliamentary system in which a vote of no confidence can prevail.
Biden has made it clear that he has no intention of resigning, no matter how many pundits and politicians demand it, and no one can force him to do so.
But what happens when the noise levels and pressure become too great?
Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared on “Morning Joe” yesterday – the same show where Biden vowed to take on “the elites” – and was asked if she wanted Biden to continue campaigning.
“It’s up to the president to decide whether he wants to run,” the former speaker said. “Time is running out and we’re all urging him to make that decision.”
Not exactly a glowing endorsement, more like a Bat-signal.
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Sen. Michael Bennet became the first Senate Democrat to say Biden would lose in November and Republicans would take control of both chambers of Congress.
President Biden walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, upon returning from a trip to Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 7. (AP/Susan Walsh)
I’ve interviewed Clooney a few times. He’s the son of a journalist and he’s a smart guy. He may have paved the way for others to speak out.
Speaking on “The View” yesterday, Michael Douglas also professed his admiration for Biden, saying, “I’m not necessarily worried about today or tomorrow, but I’m worried about a year from now … I’m very, very worried.”
Clooney’s defection carries more weight than similar pleas from anti-Trump figures Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart because Clooney was actually at the campaign trail, and the comparisons to the awful debates were devastating.
But as long as Clooney keeps inviting him to Lake Como, Biden isn’t going to back out. He’s wanted to be president his whole adult life. I covered his first campaign in 1987, after which he had emergency brain surgery for an aneurysm. No one can force him to give up the White House and Air Force One.
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Something happens to any candidate who becomes president after being repeatedly written off: They begin to believe they have supernatural powers and their abilities, despite the criticism and naysayers. The same thing happened in 2016, when few people expected Donald Trump to win.
Former President Donald Trump attended a campaign event at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami, Florida on Tuesday. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Biden has struggled to respond, just announcing he will meet with NBC host Lester Holt next Monday. The president should have done about a half-dozen interviews by now with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski instead of just calling them and complaining about the elites.
Instead, Biden delivered a hesitant, low-energy performance in a heated meeting with George Stephanopoulos. Biden appeared to be in denial, saying he didn’t believe the polls that showed Trump widening his lead since the CNN debate.
But lips are starting to loosen. On a podcast yesterday, NBC’s Chuck Todd said that a “fairly senior” cabinet member told him two years ago, “You can’t get re-elected like this.”
“This is the classic open secret, the conversation, you know?” Todd said. “It’s the story that everyone knows, but everyone’s afraid to talk about.”
Well, “everyone” didn’t know. And private conversations can’t be leaked.
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Most journalists had no contact with Biden or his aides, but they saw his apparent decline on television, and then it all came crashing down during the debate.
The New York Times reports that the president may be trying to run out the clock, paving the way for Sens. Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer and other Democrats until it’s too late for others to do anything.
In my view, the only thing that would give Biden second thoughts would be for Akeem Jeffries, Jim Clyburn and Pelosi to storm into the White House and tell him the party wants him gone. And even then, with 99% of the delegates, the president might not concede.
