Opinion | Democrats can go all in on Harris or try to take it slow. Pick wisely. (2025)

To borrow some of the favorite lingo of Vice President Harris, the “what has been” of which America is suddenly “unburdened” in this instance is the precarious 2024 candidacy of President Biden, which ended Sunday with his announcement that he would stop seeking reelection amid voter concerns about his age and fitness.

“In a sense, Joe Biden was trying to hold back the tide of history, pushing heavy furniture against the door of time,” writes David Von Drehle, “and now the flood has burst the windows.”

David praises the development as one that will reboot the Democratic Party for a new generation and upend the presidential race. He writes that Donald Trump “is enough of a TV star to know what it means to flip the script, which is what Biden has done to him” — by turning Trump into the old guy in the contest.

Dana Milbank catalogues how Biden’s “patriotic sacrifice” has scrambled the GOP, which can’t seem to settle on a message beyond demanding that Biden resign today. (“By that reasoning,” Dana notes, “Republicans also would have required the immediate resignation of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 — and George Washington in 1796.”)

But, in the immediate aftermath of the decision, all was not unity within the Democratic Party either. “Now that Biden has acted, Democrats need to settle swiftly on a new nominee — and a process to bring the party together,” E.J. Dionne reported Sunday. “Being Democrats, they are split on both these questions.” Basically, the options are 1) unite swiftly behind Harris as the uncontested nominee; or 2) undergo a mini-primary that culminates in selecting a candidate at the convention.

Our columnists have been trying to keep pace with the ensuing deluge of support for Harris, who in a mere 24 hours has lined up nearly every major Democratic figure to endorse her.

Jen Rubin is certain that this is the wiser move. The notion that some “random White governor … could jump the line ahead of the vice president to take the nomination beggars belief,” she writes. She sees a party “meltdown” if that happens.

Michele Norris agrees that a challenge to Harris could cause enormous heartburn, especially among the Black women the party so relies on, but that stick is only half the story. There’s a carrot, too, in Harris’s substantial (and growing) ability. She is an effective messenger on abortion, and she has muscled up considerably on foreign policy.

“It is long past time,” Michele writes, “to stop underestimating what Harris can do for a party that is in a ditch.”

And don’t forget her prosecutorial background and her relative youth — useful, Gene Robinson writes, “running against a felon and would-be strongman who at 78 would be the oldest person ever elected president. In what universe is that not a winnable race?”

Perry Bacon is neither quite as enthusiastic about Harris nor as convinced that she has, in fact, proved her political excellence. But he is even less sold on her supposed weaknesses. “My case for Harris,” he writes, “is really a ‘case against the case against Harris.’”

On the other side of the argument as of Monday morning was Matt Bai, who sees the rapid coalescing around Harris and writes that “unity is the most overrated idea in modern politics — lemmings are united, too, just before they dive en masse to their deaths.”

Matt thinks Harris could use the strong narrative that a competitive mini-primary could draw out of her — and if an alternative presents a better story along the way, shouldn’t Democrats go with them?

Jason Willick hears the argument that Democrats “can’t afford internal discord” when they need to focus on beating Trump — but he quickly reminds the party that such an argument served them “badly when they allowed Biden to glide through the primaries without a debate.”

And mere minutes after the Biden announcement, the members of the Editorial Board wrote that they would prefer a contested convention, too, even knowing it most likely leads to Harris. What is key, they argued, especially after the murky saga over Biden’s health, is forthrightness.

“At each decision point, Democrats should err on the side of transparency,” the board says. “Even if Ms. Harris quickly locks down the nomination, her running mate should still be decided at the convention.” Is that where they’ll stay, given the near unanimity of Democratic forces that have assembled around Harris now? Watch this space.

Let’s go back to Biden, just for a second. The man deserves his due, writes David Ignatius, for doing “the right things as president for America and the world, even when it hurt.” And hurt it did; David writes movingly on Biden’s trouble letting go of anything — most of all the hand of someone in his receiving line looking for counsel or comfort.

David pulls from a long-ago Post editorial, written in 1968 after Johnson decided not to seek reelection — “a personal sacrifice in the name of national unity that entitles him to a very special place in the annals of American history.”

Chaser: What do you think Biden should do with the rest of his time in office? Share your thoughts here, and we might publish them.

Smartest, fastest

It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.

Time pours through the door

A rising tide lifts all hopes,

Quickens decisions

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