If Joe Biden remains the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, it may not be his age and apparent failing cognitive abilities that lose him the election. It may be his support for Israel's genocidal war in Gaza.
THE BRITISH MEDICAL journal The Lancet is a sober and serious publication, not known for making wild claims. This week, it published a new study that says that more than 186,000 people could have been killed in Gaza.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health says that more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its military offensive on October 7. But The Lancet study says the official toll does not take into account other factors, such as the thousands of dead still buried under rubble and indirect deaths due to destruction of health facilities and the lack of food.
The Lancet revised death toll represents some eight percent of the Gaza population.
The fact that US President Joe Biden has enabled the horrific slaughter should not only make him unsuitable for high office, but also liable to facing war crime charges. But among the Democratic Party elite, the concern is not that Biden has allowed genocide to be committed in Gaza, but that he might not be up to defeating Donald Trump. A 'liberal' Democratic Party supporter like actor George Clooney, who has cast doubts on Biden's health and called for him to step down as the party's presidential candidate, has remained studiously silent about Israel's genocidal war in Gaza. The declining American Empire remains, as ever, thoroughly self-absorbed.
It remains an open question whether even a fully functional Joe Biden could win in November. His unwavering support for Israel's war in Gaza has angered many Democratic voters. A recent study found that in five crucial battleground states, support for Biden had declined some twenty percent among likely Democratic Party voters. There was an even sharper decline in support for Biden among millennials and American Muslims.
In 2020 the American left grudging swung in behind Biden in order to defeat Trump. But he's unlikely to get that support this time round. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the largest socialist organisation in the United States, issued a statement on June 28 expressing their opposition to Biden's presidential campaign:
'If Biden is the nominee in November, Trump will be president in January, and corporate Democrats will have no one to blame but themselves.
'Make no mistake, a return of Trump would be disastrous for the working class here and abroad. Democratic Party elites have cynically coronated an eighty-two-year-old who is aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide. This is not the candidate for the moment to defeat Trump, prevent the rise of fascism, and fight for democracy in America. The thousands of people who were essential to Biden’s victory in 2020 and turning out the vote have been alienated by the horrors in Gaza and Biden’s complicity in them. Biden must be replaced by a candidate who will stop the genocide in Gaza and will stand with the people of Palestine, who will fight for working class people, and who can stand up with the masses against both fascism and the capitalist class.'
The problem is that, even if Biden did step aside, it's unlikely the DSA would get the progressive presidential candidate it is seeking. The alternative to Joe Biden is, at the present time, Vice President Kamala Harris. But she's not a progressive and support for Israel would continue under her presidency, assuming she manages to defeat Trump.
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