Neither California Governor Gavin Newsom nor former first lady Michelle Obama will be the Democratic Party's 2024 presidential nominee. No amount of President Joe Biden's mental decline, forgetfulness, mumbling and stumbling will change that. If Biden can cloud his mirror by Election Day, he will be the nominee. If that's not possible, Vice President Kamala Harris will be waiting on deck, bat in hand.

For both Newsom and Obama, they will first need to push Harris aside. She recently said: There's no question about that. ” That doesn’t sound like someone walking the plank. She wants to be president, is running in 2020, and likely at some point after Biden defeats former President Donald Trump, she expects to pass the baton to her by November 2024. She probably expected it.

Harris, whose name appears on the ballot, has never lost an election and has won races for San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general, U.S. senator and vice president. She doesn't think she was disqualified because of her so-called laughter. It also fails to identify the “root cause” of three years of massive influx of illegal immigrants, even though everyone but the MSNBC host knows the root cause is Biden's reversal of President Trump's border policies. She doesn't think it happened. (Related: Larry Elder: Trump was called a racist for saying 'invasion'. So what if Al Sharpton said that?)

At the identity party, she checks two boxes as a woman who identifies as black. Blacks are the most loyal segment of the Democratic Party base, and black women are more loyal than men. In a September 2023 article about the CBS News and YouGov poll, CBS News wrote, “Just as they were three years ago, Black Democrats are still the most enthusiastic about Harris.”

In 2020, Democrats panic after unelected Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont), a self-proclaimed “democratic socialist,” wins the Nevada caucuses and briefly becomes the party's frontrunner. fell into. So Rep. James Clyburn (D.C.) endorsed Biden just before the state's primary, turning around a tortuous campaign. In exchange for Clyburn's support, Biden agreed to make his first Supreme Court nominee a Black woman if elected.

When it seemed possible, then-Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced that she would not complete her term and that Newsom would be replaced by a Black woman. When Feinstein died, Newsom left behind a will. As a reward for black loyalty, Democrats agreed to move the first primary in 2024 to South Carolina, where nearly 30% of voters are black, giving this voting bloc a greater say in the nominating process. Now you can get it.

Newsom has another problem. Most Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction because of the economy, inflation, gas prices, crime, illegal immigration, etc. What has Newsom said or done to make this better?

As I explain in my latest book, Going California: My Mission to Save the Golden State, Newsom unashamedly resides on the far left of the party. He assisted crime-fighting district attorneys in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He supports cashless bail. He supported Prop. 47, which would not only turn theft of nearly $1,000 into a misdemeanor, but also remove the power of police officers to force addicts who use drugs on the street to go to rehab or prison.

As for Mr. Biden's inflation-inducing reckless spending, Mr. Newsom wants more spending. When it comes to Biden's oil and gas war and anti-drilling policies, Newsom is an even more ferocious “climate change” warrior, vowing to end the sale of new gas-powered cars in California by 2035. He calls climate change an “existential threat,” but he doesn't go that far. Newsom expanded the number of undocumented Californians eligible for taxpayer-provided health care and touted California as a sanctuary state. “I'm very proud of President Biden,” Newsom said shortly after Biden's abrupt withdrawal from Afghanistan was widely condemned.

Now back to Michelle Obama. For the reasons outlined above, black voters, especially black women voters, will be outraged by the ploy to exclude Harris, but with one caveat. That means the replacement candidate must be a popular black woman. Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama are the only two people who fit this criteria. Winfrey doesn't want the gig, and neither does Obama, wishful thinking notwithstanding. She hates politics.

So this is Harris.

Larry Elder is a best-selling author and nationally syndicated radio talk show host. To learn more about Larry Elder or to become an Elder, please visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit his Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

Copyright 2024 Lawrence A. Elder

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