Kamala expresses gratitude for Biden in first speech since he dropped out

The Democratic Party’s dynamic new favorite for president, Vice President Kamala Harris, told the nation she was “deeply grateful” for President Joe Biden in her first remarks since he announced his decision Sunday not to stand for reelection and to endorse her in the 2024 presidential election.

“Joe Biden’s legacy of accomplishment over the past three years is unmatched in modern history… yes, you may clap,” Harris said, in an address at the White House honoring NCAA athletes. “In one term, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who have served two terms in office.”

“I am firsthanded witness that every day Joe Biden fights for the American people and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation,” she said.

But she pointedly did not discuss her own future or her nascent campaign. Her aim, it seemed, was to show her commitment to service — doing her job as vice president, not as a presidential candidate. Service was the leitmotif of her brief remarks — to be expected, given how she was speaking in her official capacity as vice president.

Before her speech, Harris tweeted, “It’s the first full day of our campaign, so I’m heading up to Wilmington, DE later to say ‘hello’ to our staff in HQ. One day down. 105 to go. Together, we’re going to win this.”

Biden, who is currently recovering from Covid at his Rehoboth Beach vacation home, has yet to address the nation since his decision to step aside yesterday. The president had staked his campaign on being able to outperform Republican challenger Donald Trump in a June 27 debate — in which Biden performed disastrously, demonstrating clear signs of cognitive decline to an audience of millions. His poll numbers dropped even further following that night, putting states like New Mexico and Virginia in play for the Republicans.

Harris has been roundly endorsed in the hours since Biden’s announcement, by figures including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and over 100 other members of Congress and potential VP picks such as Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro and North Carolina governor Roy Cooper. She has however yet to secure the backing of former president Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who played a key role in masterminding Biden’s stepping down. The threat of a contested convention may have grown fainter — but a challenge to Harris remains a possibility.

Yet will a change at the top of the ticket, for a candidate unlikely to retire for a few years at least, be enough to turn the tide for the Democrats? Harris, as Biden’s VP, will be challenged on the record of the administration in which she served; on its failure to manage the US-Mexico border, a challenge rather unfairly placed in her in-tray early in Biden’s term; on its spending and economic record and its weak record on crime in urban centers.

Harris will also be assuming command of the existing Biden-Harris campaign apparatus, taking over its headquarters in Delaware. Will she continue in that campaign’s ineffective decision to run against the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 rather than Donald Trump and the more moderate RNC platform? It’s all change in the days to come.