Viewpoint: Biden can be a transitional president — after he wins reelection

Kamala Harris has a chance to be our first female president. And, in addition, the first woman of color to hold the office. All it will take is for Joe Biden to win in November.

Our nation’s so-called “Democrats” ruined the first female nominee’s chances to ascend to the presidency some eight years ago. There was so much confusion and consternation over the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, so much distaste at large in some circles of Democratic purists that she lost. It was a betrayal, a self inflicted wound, one even now hardly acknowledged. Many “progressives,” titular Democrats, I know, knew, would not vote for her for any number of unforgivable sins they imagined she had committed. The hysteria afoot now over Joe Biden’s bad last debate performance echoes the same behavior. It has fostered a Biden mutiny of sorts.

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Back then, two elections ago, these same folk just didn’t like Hillary and were under the delusion that The Donald could never win, so they voted for a variety of third party loons, including Jill Stein (who still is perennially running). Well, those in-the-know types never lived in the Midwest, never watched “The Apprentice,” evidently. That voting demographic was invisible to them.

There was also the problem of line-of-succession: Obama, in his alleged wisdom, decided to step over his Veep, the reliable Joe Biden, and anoint Hillary. This created its own shelf of problems. They had excuses, blaming Biden’s grief over the death of his son, the favored Beau. Having Hillary in the presidency would polish Obama’s legacy and please Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who wanted to have Hillary name her female replacement on the High Court. And we all know how that turned out.

Now, many of the same sort of backsliders are screaming for Biden to step down. Biden might, perhaps should, step down, but not until he wins the presidency and defeats the blackguard Trump. Ronald Reagan begat Trump, setting the precedent for a TV star to be elevated to the office of president. Reagan played his role of the civilized, respected Dr. Jekyll. Trump plays accurately his opposite, the feral, unhinged Mr. Hyde.

Biden may have only a year or two of complete lucidity left in him, but Kamala can easily step into the Oval Office once it’s secured. And look at all the qualified folk she can pick from for Veep. Even our former Mayor Pete!

Kamala’s background in some ways duplicates Obama’s: You have to go way back in history to find a president whose father wasn’t born in America (previous to Obama’s). I mean way back. Obama’s father was a Kenyan. Kamala’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was born in Madras, British India, and blossomed as an intellectual and became a biologist. Kamala’s father, Donald Harris, was born in Jamaica; his background includes Afro- and Irish additives and he flourished as an economist. I dined with him once at one of the area’s fanciest restaurants. It was a Notre Dame hiring dinner, but he wasn’t hired. Somehow all of this has aspects of cosmic coincidence, with Biden being, in both Obama and Kamala’s case, part of the older immigrant American stew that served to anchor his more modern running mates.

Most of the media (especially television) has become shallow and shallower over the years. Talking heads are the cheapest form of broadcasting and every once in a while someone says something smart. But they need a variety of topics to talk about, so all, most, is speculation and cruelly superficial. Biden, a few have pointed out, had positioned himself as a transitional figure, a bridge to the new, a bridge that would help to hold the country together to ward off the barbarian Trump.

Well, Biden’s been successful, but to be truly transitional, he needs to win the presidency again and to graciously hand it off to Kamala after a year or so and she can pick one of the many males clamoring for the job. I would like that to be Mayor Pete. It would be the easiest way for him to gain that office and, happily, be in line for the presidency itself.

William O'Rourke is an emeritus professor of English at the University of Notre Dame. His most recent book is "Politics and the American Language."

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Biden can elevate Harris to the presidency after they win reelection