Biden is not the right person for this moment.

The administrations lack of preparedness and action in the immediate aftermath of the overturning of Roe is the most recent evidence that Biden should not be the 2024 Democratic nominee for President.

The last few weeks (and months, and years) have been an onslaught of unprecedented occurrences. I would argue that it began with the 2016 election and snowballed from there with a series of unfortunate events: a stolen SCOTUS seat, the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, the railroading of Amy Comey Barrett, the death of Justice Ginsburg, the corruption of the Trump administration and all their scandals, COVID, and to top it all off, an insurrection. In the face of all these catastrophes, Democratic voters, and later the American people, chose one man to put an end to the whirlwind of the Trump years, and that man, as we all know, was Joe Biden.

Joe Biden was not elected to bring systemic change to the United States. Moderate members of Congress are tired of reminding us progressives about this. To be frank, we did not expect Joe Biden to be a transformational president, at least not until he and his team said he would govern in the mold of FDR and LBJ, ushering in a new era of policies that would fundamentally change our society. And to Biden’s credit, he tried. He presented Build Back Better, he pushed for the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill, and I am sure that in his mind, he did all he could to fight for stricter gun control, voting rights, and a slew of other issues that are of national importance. The problem is that what Joe Biden and the administration see as doing all they can, and what actually is doing all they can, are two drastically different things.

Abortion is one of the most salient issues right now after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Biden’s history on the issue leaves a lot to be desired. Historically, Biden has supported the Hyde amendment, which blocks the use of federal funds for abortions in situations where the life of the mother is not in danger. He is an imperfect vessel to lead the fight against an untethered, hyper-partisan Supreme Court on many issues, but particularly this one, given his record. Soon after Roe was initially decided, Biden infamously said that the court had gone too far. Later, he said that women should not have the ultimate right to say what happens to their bodies. Biden argued on the trail while trying to secure the 2020 nomination that his views on the issue have changed, but his actions do not reflect this. In the initial aftermath of the overturning of Roe, the White House published a statement, calling 06/24 a sad day, calling the decision cruel and dangerous, called on people to temper their anger and not be violent. Instead of joining the protestors at the steps of the Supreme Court building, Biden remained in his ivory tower, lecturing democrats on how the way out of this problem is not direct action, but to vote. And instead of doing the bare minimum and calling for the abolishing of the filibuster, even if it is for the sole reason to codify Roe, on the day the opinion came out, they waited almost an entire week to say anything on the matter.

Other members of his party and taking a markedly different stance. Progressive firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has called for people to come together. She laid out a clear and efficient plan on what steps the party has to take, which start with voting, but go much further. She makes it clear that we as Democrats have to highlight to the public who our problem members are and that we must come together to defeat them. These are people like Henry Cuellar, whose primary opponent AOC supported, in the house, and Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema in the senate, who Biden would not even dare mention their names with a hint of criticism. AOC makes clear that the House and Senate must take steps to curtail the power of the court to issue decisions like this. Some may question the legitimacy of such legislation, but if the court were to find that Congress limiting the power of the Court to rule on issues such as these is unconstitutional, the Court is free to come and try to enforce their judgment against Congress. (Spoiler alert: they can’t). She has also called for the expansion of the Court, as has happened in the past, and for the scrapping of the filibuster.

AOC is not the only Democrat outflanking Biden on the issue of abortion. My own governor, Jay Inslee, was joined by the governors of California and Oregon in announcing what they are calling the West Coast Offensive. The plan boils down to ensuring that the West Coast is a heaven for safe abortions and bodily autonomy. They are doing so by taking a few steps. First, each State will ensure that abortions remain legal and safe within their borders. Second, and most importantly, they are working to pass legislation that ensures that law enforcement within the borders of this Block of West Coast States does not share any information with law enforcement outside of the block regarding people that come to the State, whether it is to provide abortion services, pay for those services, or have procedures. This is particularly salient, given that many of the States that have either passed forced birth legislation or are in the process of doing so, have expressed interest in criminalizing the act of leaving the State to obtain this kind of service, which is something that would infringe on the person’s right to travel freely between the states, and in any other point in our nation’s history would have been deemed facially unconstitutional, but as we have seen with this Court, nothing is off the table.

As the actions of these three governors have shown, actions and plans are the way to move forward. The West Coast Offensive is likely a plan that was in the works soon after the opinion was leaked, as evidenced by the production value of the video where the three governors made their joint announcement. What has the White House planned? Based on what they have shown us, not much. I know what the reality is legislatively at the federal level, but Biden has options that go further than statements or trying to push legislation. With the stroke of a pen, Biden can order abortion services to be provided on federal lands in every State that has banned abortion. It is not a perfect solution, but it would bring some relief anywhere with a VA hospital or an army base, potentially shielding people that are trying to receive these services from liability. The administration had almost two months to prepare and have little to nothing to show for it.  

This is just one very salient example of a policy area where Biden has not gone far enough, for no other reason than the fact that he personally, and his political vision more broadly, are not the kind of leadership that this country needs right now. Joe Biden served his purpose: to defeat Donald Trump. Outside of that, the idea that Joe Biden is going to save this country from the malaise the Right has brought onto us since the days of Newt Gingrich is silly, because much of it happened under his watch. He is a product of his times and is unfit to lead this party and this country in the conflict that Friday’s opinion has unleashed. The Democratic Party and the American people need a fighter now more than ever, and it is time for us to come to terms with that, or else we will lose whatever power we have left in 2024, and a right-wing House, Senate, Presidency, and Supreme Court will bring a level of pain to every corner of this country, and the world, that has not been seen in a long time.