In the earliest stages of this new phase, officials from the Harris campaign and the Biden administration are describing a so-far seamless approach to advancing both of their goals at once. Biden’s aides have not been given any clear instructions to make key decisions to be approved by Harris’ team — but they’re collaborating nonetheless to make sure they’re moving in the same direction.
Some of this is more by necessity than by design—Harris’ team on the campaign and in the White House was a smaller part of a larger operation. But it also reflects the experience of staffers from both parties — particularly the long-standing relationship between Sheila Nix, who oversaw Harris’ campaign team, and top Biden advisers with whom he once worked while vice president during the Obama administration.
It builds on the approach taken shortly after Biden’s poor debate performance on June 27, when the White House added Biden and Harris to dinner and added it to the Independence Day event, as well as Biden’s oft-repeated comments about how prepared Harris was. be president
According to the general counsel, his team also took extra care to avoid doing anything that could be perceived as plotting his potential candidacy, for fear it would be seen as disloyal.
Both camps understand that there is a honeymoon period that cannot last. However, it is an important point to execute successfully in order to try to develop the momentum that can carry it forward.
It began with Harris paying tribute to Biden on Monday, describing his one-term record as rivaling or surpassing most two-term presidents. Now, Biden’s appearance in the Oval Office presents a critical opportunity to speak to the American people, who no longer see him as a embattled candidate but as a humble, soon-to-be-former president.
Part of his message on Tuesday will build on his Oval Office speech more than a week ago — in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump — about the need for the country to come together despite an often bitter campaign. For weeks, however, Biden has been most at odds with his own party.
After announcing nine years ago that he would not run in the 2016 election, Biden told the country that no one should run for president unless they can give “110%” to the effort. Privately, Biden acknowledged when he decided to drop out of the 2024 race that he could no longer fight a two-front war if he remained against his party and Trump.
Biden officials described a range of emotions after learning of his decision not to seek a second term. There was a shock in the decision itself, which in retrospect seemed inevitable, but which they had worked hard to prevent for weeks. In particular, there was anger at Democratic leaders, who saw Biden as a betrayal of what they saw as party loyalty, pressuring him to leave the party. As Biden himself has often said, there was sadness amid concern that the 90-minute debate in June would overshadow his career in public service.
But as a senior campaign official said, there is little time for sentimentality. And Biden’s speech offers a rallying point, especially for his White House team, for his remaining months in office.
Speaking to White House staff this week, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients said that in every conversation with him, Biden told him to keep moving forward on priorities such as spending cuts, the infrastructure bill and implementing major legislation. The CHIPS Act and standing up for democracy.
A source close to Biden said he will repeat another message he offered after he dropped out in 2016: that he won’t stop engaging in the public debate even if he’s not running.
In some ways, Biden’s political obituary was already written eight years ago as he prepared to leave the vice presidency. At that year’s Democratic convention, a day-long event in the Senate, where he also served for 36 years, and President Barack Obama awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, there was a stirring event. The last two events were tempered by the shock of Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton.
Wednesday’s speech will be the first of a series of farewell messages Biden will have a chance to deliver, including at next month’s Democratic National Convention, which will be restructured to focus on Harris and his eventual nominee. He will also deliver the traditional presidential farewell address in the final days of his term, aides hope he will indeed be preparing to pass the baton to President-elect Harris.