The president will headline the Democratic National Convention’s first night, stepping onto stage as the party’s hero and leaving with his fate sealed.
President Joe Biden will « return home » on Monday night, reaching the end of his hero’s journey at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The lame-duck president will be the main event for the first night of the DNC, delivering a keynote speech that could be seen as the capstone to a 50-year political career that took him from being elected the youngest senator in U.S. history to its oldest president.
Although Biden would surely rather be traveling to Chicago to accept his party’s nomination for another four-year term, the Democrats will give him the second-best prize: a sure-fire opportunity to do what he hoped his campaign could and unite the party.
In the waning weeks of an unprecedented summer of political turmoil, Biden will be given the chance officially to pass the torch to Kamala Harris, framed as a national hero who put his country over his own self-interest (even if he didn’t want to).
When Biden steps onto the stage at the United Center Monday night, he will be hailed as a unifying figure — a long way from being criticized as the albatross around the neck of the Democratic party.
Less than a month ago, Biden was staring down his party’s elders in a game of chicken, refusing to withdraw from the race even as concerns about the 81-year-old’s ability to serve a second term reached critical mass in the aftermath of his disastrous debate performance on June 27.
« Biden will be greeted like the hero he is to most of his delegates », political consultant Jay Townsend told Newsweek. « The general who led the effort to conquer an opposing force, brought some measure of peace and normalcy to a formerly occupied territory, who then had the wisdom to know it was time to pass the baton. »
But the hero’s welcome will be fleeting.
After Harris’ campaign gives Biden his moment in the sun, her team will move quickly away from the president, unlikely to give him anymore time in the spotlight as it ramps up a political operation determined to define a new era for the Democratic Party, political expert Steven Schier told Newsweek.
