I remember years ago, when I first started out in television media, I had several opportunities to participate in an international commentary program similar to an open debate. With dozens of spectators watching, I couldn't help but trot when I was younger. However, during the recording process, I accidentally found that the steps I had just stepped over were not short, and I had some heart palpitations. Today, the recollection of this little experience gives me some understanding of U.S. President Joe Biden, who recently fell repeatedly on The Air Force's first gangway. In the face of the high attention of the national and even global media, coupled with the pervasiveness of social networks, the elderly Biden certainly has the pressure to show some "youthfulness" in the details as much as possible, but the practice of trotting up is naturally easy to miss, let alone a 78-year-old man.
On March 19, a video of Biden's so-called "three consecutive falls" was quickly spread across the Internet, exacerbating the existing doubts about Biden's ability to govern. So Karine Jean-Pierre, a White House deputy spokeswoman born in 1977, had to explain publicly that andrew's airport was so windy that day that she nearly fell when she got on the plane. This explanation is benign but far-fetched, and can't help but make the outside world a little more curious about the physical condition of the entire Biden team.
Just six days later, Biden held his first presidential press conference at the White House. The less than an hour-long press conference was supposed to be scheduled too late (64 days after taking office) as the president needed more time to prepare, and Biden's performance at the press conference was unspeakably ideal, with dull and cumbersome expressions that seemed to remind people of what is the norm in Washington compared to the hustle and bustle of the past four years. Although it may seem more like careful planning in advance and asking questions according to Tu Suoji's name, Biden still showed emotional irritability in the face of some challenging questions, and finally answered ten questions and ended up hastily.
In 2017, the 70-year-old Trump entered the White House, setting a new record for the age of the first newly elected president, but his "vigorous" style in the following four years can easily make people ignore the "old politics" that the United States is entering. Today's Biden, by contrast, is a reminder of the creeping arrival of this fait accompli or new normal.
Whose government is it exactly?
In this wave of discussions about Biden's advanced age, physical condition and ability to govern, the conservative camp in the United States is destined to be lonely. Conservative media outlets such as Fox News, as well as some social media accounts, began to grasp an interesting detail and "dig deeper." That is, the white house official website currently clearly uses the term "Biden-Harris administration", and there are sources that the Biden administration has informed its executive branches to adopt the names of president and vice president.
"Biden-Harris Administration" on the White House website
According to the conservative "creative" interpretation, behind this usage is a government crisis in which Biden cannot perform his duties normally due to physical and other reasons, and even Vice President Kamala Harris is speculated to have actually taken power and will take over at any time.
Such conspiracy theories whispers certainly hint that Biden's election was originally "stolen" and naturally unhappy, which is a phrase that Trump's supporters like very much; for example, white President Biden has become a "puppet" and the real control of the country is Harris, who is of African descent, a hint that some white groups cannot tolerate, which in turn will stimulate certain forces. Thus, the agenda manipulation of this detail is actually an attempt to create a political narrative similar to that of the so-called "Manchurian candidate" (Editor's Note: The Manchurian Candidate was originally a political thriller novel published by the American writer Richard Condon in 1959, and the term "Manchurian candidate" later became an American political term, meaning "puppet", "manipulated", "brainwashed" candidate).
Objectively speaking, the juxtaposition of the "Biden-Harris administration" has been used so high-profile and officially on official platforms such as the White House website, which is indeed a bit different from the past, but it does not necessarily mean that these dramatic assumptions are too strong. On the one hand, if one carefully searches for information about previous U.S. administrations, it is not unusual for presidents and vice presidents to jointly use the name of the current administration. Especially since at least the 1990s, when the vice president has been expanding his powers in practical politics, the use of president and vice president jointly seems more formal. On the other hand, this usage clearly implies some political considerations that are within the normal expectations. For example, on January 19 of this year, the day before the Trump administration left office, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy posted a summary article on his official website titled "Five Achievements of the Trump-Pence Administration", which was intended to emphasize the important role of the Republican establishment Mike Pence and highlight the achievements of the Trump administration as republican achievements. Today, the "Biden-Harris administration" that Biden uses on the White House website can also be understood as a result of the power-sharing nature of this administration.
In fact, after the dust settled on last year's election, the so-called "power transition" official website opened by the Biden camp was clearly named "Biden-Harris Transition Team". Taking the cover of Time Magazine as an example, whether it is the issue that determines the election results after election day or the cover of 2020's Person of the Year, Biden and Harris shared it in the same frame. To some extent, this also shows that the Biden team itself and relevant public opinion believe that this is a cooperative election, opening up the power of sharing. In other words, biden and Harris's 2020 elections, if nothing else, will be effective beyond the next four years, but pre-set democratic primary nominations for 2024 and even 2028. In order to reinforce and even solidify this possible continuity, Biden's insistence on using the "Biden-Harris administration" from the beginning can also highlight the sustainability of Democratic policies, countering the whispers and anxieties that will lead to policy reversal if the rotation of political parties is repeated in 2024.
After eight years as vice president, Biden himself will think differently and hope to give full play to Harris's energy as vice president as possible. Although the personal interaction between the two is actually limited, and harris can recall on many occasions that she has repeatedly recalled her cooperation with Biden's eldest son, Bo Biden, the current president who presided over Harris's swearing-in as vice president is indeed giving Harris a greater role. From the past 60 days or so, Harris's involvement in domestic and foreign policy has begun to show signs: the first external communication call of the current administration was Harris's call with the WHO Director-General, followed by Harris's direct telephone communication with the current heads of state of france, Canada and other allied countries; recently Harris was entrusted with the responsibility for the future and extremely significant immigration matters, especially to solve the current US-Mexico border crisis. From this perspective, the use of the "Biden-Harris administration" is not only in line with the continuous improvement in the role of vice president in recent years, but also fully in line with the Democratic Party's future generational renewal responsibilities.
Taking a step back, assuming that there is really a "palace fight drama" going on inside the White House at present, and Harris, who is still temporarily living in Blair Palace, is only one step away from the Oval Office, he should avoid using the "Biden-Harris administration" to minimize speculation to the outside world, right?
What can Eisenhower tell Biden?
Speculations about the future of the "Biden-Harris administration" are speculated not only because of Biden's advanced age, but also because of the age difference between Biden and Harris: Harris, born in 1964, is only 5 years older than Biden's late eldest son Bo Nian, and the difference between the president and vice president is 22 years, which is obviously a "father-daughter" combination with long-term influence.
It's worth noting that 22 isn't the biggest age difference between president and vice president in U.S. history. In the 1856 election, James Buchanan, a Democrat at the age of 65, had to face his own deputy, John Breckinridge, who was less than 35 years old. At the time, the combination was clearly not something that the presidential candidates themselves could decide, but the younger generation of Breckenridge undoubtedly represented the echelon that the party needed. In 1860, the youngest vice president in U.S. history represented the split Southern Democratic Party in the White House, ultimately losing to Lincoln.
After the "Buchanan-Breckenridge" combination, there are two sets of "father-son files", namely Eisenhower (born 1890) and Nixon (born in 1913), Bush Sr. (born in 1924) and Quill (born in 1947), both of which are about 23 years older than the vice president, closer to today's "Biden Harris" combination. As far as the authorization given to presidential candidates by the primary system is concerned, Biden, of course, like bush the elder, has the right to decide the deputy candidate. But in terms of the factional ecology within the party, Biden chose Harris in order to balance the demands of the party, which is actually more like Eisenhower's acceptance of Nixon.
The Republican Party of 1952 was most looking forward to ending the 20-year democratic rule, and they recruited World War II star Eisenhower as a rescue soldier. Still, the most supportive of Mr. Eich is the liberals in the party, with conservative-backed Robert Taft and moderate-backed Earl Warren still insisting on competing for the nomination. So, although the 62-year-old Eisenhower successfully defeated the conservatives in the party, he finally accepted the deputy who could win both the support of the conservatives in the party and the moderates, that is, the 39-year-old Nixon.
After the 1952 presidential election, Time magazine featured the election winners Eisenhower and Nixon on the cover.
The investment in the future by some Republican elites back then resembled the urgent call of some Democrats last year for Biden to choose a female African-American deputy (almost alluding to Harris). In contrast, Bush's selection of Quill was entirely an initiative to create some intergenerational feelings, dominating rather than compromise, and the latter had no political ambitions after his defeat in 1992.
Interestingly, taking the cover of Time magazine as an example, before Biden and Harris, the last time the elected president and vice president appeared on the cover of the latest post-election issue was precisely 1952 and 1956, that is, the two victories of the Eisenhower and Nixon combinations, of which the 1956 side portrait design was the same as the side face of Biden and Harris as the "Person of the Year" in 2020.
Eisenhower and Nixon on the cover of Time Magazine in 1956.
Biden and Harris on the cover of Time magazine in 2020.
Now that the situation is similar, and both presidents are confronted with a vice president who is created by factional balances within the party and is considered to represent the future of the party, what can Eisenhower's practice tell Biden? For Biden, who is worried about his advanced age or even his physical health, Eisenhower's heart attack should be an access point worth thinking about and learning.
In mid-August 1955, the Eisenhower family flew to Denver, Colorado, where their wife had lived as a young man, for about two months on a so-called "work leave." On the evening of September 23, Eisenhower suffered a heart attack and was taken to the hospital the next day. For the next seven weeks, Eisenhower was treated and recovered at Fitz Simmons Army Hospital in Aurora, Colorado. Coincidentally, 12 years ago, a newborn named John Forbes Kerry was born in the hospital. In early October 1955, Eisenhower's illness was brought under control, and then Vice President Nixon and Secretary of State Dulles visited the president on October 8 and 11, respectively.
It wasn't until Nov. 11 that Eisenhower was discharged from the hospital, but instead of returning to the White House, he returned to the estate he had purchased in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during his tenure as president of Columbia University. Many information disclosed that Eisenhower was very depressed at this time, not only believing that he could not seek re-election, but also highly doubtful about whether he could continue to perform his duties normally. Even the schedule for the President's State of the Union address to both houses of Congress, scheduled for January 5, 1956, was put on hold, and Eisenhower decided to replace it in writing to Congress.
Eisenhower's retreat soon sparked unease and agitation among the Republican elite. Judging from the possible replacement of the Republican Party at that time, none of them, including Vice President Nixon, could ensure victory as Aishi. In mid-February 1956, the team confirmed that Eisenhower was fully recovered. On February 29, under the persuasion of Republican bigwigs, Eisenhower publicly expressed his willingness to continue to represent the Republican Party.
It is worth noting that between the end of September 1955 and February 1956, when the president was unable to fully or partially perform his duties, the Eisenhower administration was extremely dysfunctional. Although Vice President Richard Nixon was authorized to preside over cabinet meetings and national security council meetings, he simply could not dominate decision-making. At that time, Secretary of State Dulles, Treasury Secretary George Humphrey, and Agriculture Secretary Ezra Benson resisted Nixon to varying degrees in terms of policy, believing that he could not act on Eisenhower's decision-making, and then there was a chaos of different department chiefs making their own decisions.
According to scholars such as Robert Gilbert, a professor of political science at Northeastern University, due to the decision-making vacuum caused by Eisenhower's illness, Dulles unilaterally steered U.S. foreign policy for a period of time in late 1955 and 1956, which led directly to the decision to cancel the funding of the Aswan Dam and later the Suez crisis.
Eisenhower's heart attack led to his government fragmentation, and in addition to the fact that Ai's cronies did not buy Nixon, a key background was the 1956 election. At least some of the contradictions between Nixon and Dulles, or between Nixon and Humphrey, reflect the early card positions of different factions within the Republican Party in the face of the election. Interestingly, although Eisenhower personally warned Nixon not to run during his illness because he saw Nixon's unsatisfactory poll performance, and even after announcing his bid for re-election, Eisenhower once wanted to change his deputy, he eventually accepted the Republican faction's arrangement. Of course, it was precisely because of the re-election of the Republican Party in 1956 that Nixon was able to overwhelmingly become the best candidate to represent the Republican Party in the 1960 election. Eight years later, when Nixon ran again and finally got his wish, his second daughter, Julie, married David, Eisenhower's only grandson.
Eisenhower's experiences from 1955 to 1956 invisibly increased the need for Biden to insist on using the "Biden-Harris administration." It must be admitted that although the previous health reports provided by private doctors showed that Biden was generally healthy, there were still some hidden dangers in the problems of uneven heart rate, atrial fibrillation, and high blood lipids listed in the report at that time. If there is a stroke, heart problems and other emergencies, a similar "Eisenhower moment" will be staged.
Although Eisenhower's heart attack was a direct stimulus and eventually established the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Federal Constitution in 1967, the constitutional provisions governing the vice president acting as president, there are variables as to whether the relatively junior Harris can fully enjoy constitutional powers, whether he can control more senior cabinet members, aspire to the presidency, or follow Biden for decades. In particular, if Biden's likely physical condition also occurs on the eve of an election (such as the second half of 2023), Harris, as the most promising candidate, is more likely to be challenged by other competitors within the government in the face of the party primary that is already brewing by then. In other words, if something goes wrong, Today's Biden may not be able to reload as quickly as Eisenhower did back then, Harris will have to face a more difficult situation than Nixon did then, and the Democrats will once again be in internal strife, missing out on the advantage of static braking over the Republican camp.
Anticipating these potential problems, with particular emphasis on Harris's key role in the administration's second-in-line position from the outset, aimed at ensuring as much stability as possible in the dual sense of government decision-making and party integration in the event that Biden is unable to perform his duties (fully), this may be what Biden really wants to achieve through the "Biden-Harris administration."
Column Editor-in-Chief: Zhang Wu Text Editor: Dong Siyun Title Image Source: Xinhua News Agency Photo Editor: Zhu Xuan
Source: Author: The Paper