(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden will spend the rest of his term working on his legacy and helping his would-be successor, according to multiple reports.
Instead of crisscrossing the country seeking a second term, Biden will be reminding us of his major accomplishments like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and lowering prescription drug prices, both of which can help Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.
While Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appeals to White House reporters to “give us a beat” as Biden aides plot the next five months, plenty of people inside and outside the administration have been quick to offer advice.
“President Joe Biden’s legacy will be his grace, effectiveness, and patriotism,” Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse posted on his Facebook account when Biden stepped aside from the campaign. “Let’s win this for Joe.”
Politico reports there is disagreement among Biden loyalists on how best to burnish his legacy and help Harris. Biden’s expected to appear with Harris at some campaign events, probably after the Democratic National Convention.
Biden can help in specific ways, pollster Cornell Belcher told Politico. “He can really lean in with older, more blue-collar voters, particularly around issues like Social Security and retirement,” he said.
Others speaking to Politico said the president will certainly be deployed to Pennsylvania, and possibly other Rust Belt states that are competitive. “If I were them, I would just park his a** in Pennsylvania and move on,” said one anonymous Democratic operative.
But another Democrat, also anonymous, wondered whether the Harris campaign really wants Biden on the campaign trail.
“It’s clear the party did not want Biden as the nominee. It’s very hard to see the Harris team wanting him out there on the trail,” the operative told Politico.
A major foreign policy win would help both Biden’s legacy and Harris’ campaign. Biden has been deeply involved in the latest efforts to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. He even set a date, Thursday, for all parties to meet again.
On another front, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on both sides in Sunday’s civil war to begin negotiations Wednesday in Switzerland.
“The last thing the president wants is for a devastating war in the Middle East to be his legacy. This also has the potential to undermine Kamala Harris’s campaign,” Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House, told The Japan Times.
“I would imagine that he is going to devote a lot of time and energy to the situation in the Middle East,” Bill Galston, a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton, told The Guardian.
“He surely doesn’t want history to record that the final months of his tenure witnessed the outbreak of the first comprehensive Middle East war in decades, a war that he, like others, has been struggling to avoid.”