‘It's very complicated’: Harris’ big week begins with Biden’s farewell

This is not the Democratic convention that President Joe Biden envisioned just a month ago.

Stepping onto the stage in Chicago was supposed to be the capstone of a half-century electoral career, a triumphant recognition of his prolific first term and hard-earned validation of the belief that he alone could once again defeat former President Donald Trump.

But a week that Biden once saw as his political pinnacle will now last just a few hours, overtaken by an extraordinary series of events that has reenergized the president’s party at the expense of his own ambitions. The deafening roars Biden receives at the United Center on Monday night will communicate just as much relief as reverence from a party grateful he’s stepped away, further signaling that Biden’s exit from the race is the only reason Democrats are confident they have a shot to win in November.

And when Vice President Kamala Harris delivers her acceptance speech later this week, Biden will already have been out of sight and out of mind, on vacation far from the celebration.

“He’s going to get an incredible reception,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), a staunch Biden ally, said ahead of his convention-opening speech Monday that will now effectively double as the president’s pass-the-torch moment. “But I’m sure it’s very complicated. I know it’s very complicated.”

The revamped convention now set to dominate the political landscape for the next four days will mirror the shifting dynamics of a Democratic Party trying to celebrate Biden’s tenure — while also eagerly preparing to move past it.

The week’s programming will be infused with talk of Biden’s accomplishments, even as they’re carefully rebranded as joint achievements with Harris, aides familiar with the planning said.

Officials want Monday, in particular, to remind Americans of the reeling, pandemic-plagued nation that Biden inherited three-and-a-half years ago and the progress he made while charting the U.S. out of a confluence of crises — from restoring relationships abroad to curbing unauthorized border crossings and crime at home, while executing on a sweeping economic agenda.

Biden’s own speech — which was still undergoing revisions in the days leading up to the convention — will also feature that recitation of accomplishments that aides have often favorably compared to the legacy of former President Lyndon Johnson. Biden and his senior advisers have fixated on the finishing touches of his career in the weeks since dropping out of the race, viewing Harris’ run as a final critical chapter of Biden’s history — and one that hinges on beating Trump and becoming the nation’s first woman president.

To that end, Biden is expected to deliver a stark warning about the dangers of another Trump term to make a forceful case for his vice president, aides said, touting Harris as an indispensable governing partner more than ready to take over the Oval Office. Harris is expected to be in attendance for Biden’s speech.

“As he likes to say, it’s an inflection point — an inflection point for our country and for his presidency and his career,” said Ron Klain, a longtime Biden confidant and his former White House chief of staff. “He made a decision [to bow out], and now he has to make that decision successful.”

Biden’s wife, first lady Jill Biden, is also expected to address the convention on Monday night.

Still, there is little doubt among his close aides and allies that Biden is entering the week with mixed feelings, according to five people granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Biden has appeared looser in public of late, joking about his age and his need to find a new job. Privately, those who spoke to him in the last week suggested that, in some moments, it appears a weight has lifted from his shoulders. He is particularly proud of how quickly Harris harnessed the party’s support and enthusiasm, seeing it as vindication of his decision to endorse her immediately.

That has softened some of his frustration with how he was pushed from the top of the ticket, which he had directed at former President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — and especially former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the people said. But Biden has continued to insist to confidants that he could have won in November, even as he acknowledges the challenges were immense and could have divided the party.

“Joe Biden has been the same person for 50 years — it’s just the level of caffeination that’s changed,” said one Democrat close to the White House. “The fire in the belly is still there, he’s still really ambitious.”

That bittersweet feeling is one shared by his allies, who have bristled at the idea that many of the Democrats singing Biden’s praises this week were also the same ones who just weeks ago cast him as stubborn and past his prime while working to drive him out of the race.

They remain frustrated with Obama, who did not come to Biden’s defense as pressure built for him to drop out — nor did he tell Biden directly to reconsider his run. And few expect the president to reconcile anytime soon with Pelosi, once a close ally who has made only a halfhearted attempt to disguise her role in ending his bid.

“There’s a lot of strain there,” said one Democrat familiar with the relationship between Biden and Pelosi.

A Biden aide emphasized that the president does not share those specific frustrations about Obama's conduct, saying in a statement that Biden "has never said that."

"The president is focused on nothing but getting as much done as possible over the next five months and helping the VP get elected to secure all the progress we've made," the aide said.

Biden isn’t likely to dwell on any of the play-by-play during his time on stage, mindful of distracting from Harris and dampening the party unity that has dramatically altered the course of the race less than three months from Election Day.

Harris will head into the convention leading or tied with Trump in several battleground states, achieving a level of support in a matter of weeks that Biden hadn’t approached since the campaign began in earnest earlier this year.

Still, there’s little desire to stick around for a bash that no longer revolves around him and risk pulling attention away from Harris. Biden is instead slated to leave shortly after his speech for California, where he’ll spend the rest of the week on vacation while a next generation of Democratic leaders take turns setting the stage.

“It’s going to be bittersweet, for sure,” said former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), a current White House adviser. “You don’t voluntarily walk away from the most powerful position in the world without having a sense of what might have been.”

“But based on my conversations with him,” Jones added, “I think he’s well-satisfied with where he is and his place in history.”

Since ending his campaign, Biden has stressed to aides that he wants his final months to be as active as any other period in his administration, privately outlining a four-point agenda aimed at churning out a spate of final domestic policy initiatives and targeting a ceasefire in the Middle East that Biden sees as a potentially crowning achievement on his way out the door.

Biden in addition has asked his senior team to seek new policy opportunities that could be executed in the next few months, or lay the groundwork for action in a next administration.

But on Monday night, Democrats said the moment will focus on what Biden has done — and the deep appreciation of his eventual willingness to step aside.

The president is widely expected to receive a raucous welcome from a convention crowd that has swelled in size since Harris took up the mantle. He’ll likely be hailed by party leaders as one of the most productive presidents in modern times, a Democratic icon for defeating Trump in 2020 and a politician of rare courage for opting to step aside for the good of the party.

It “will be emotional,” said one senior Democrat close to party leadership. “People will cry.”

But asked if anyone will feel regret for pushing Biden aside, the Democrat was unequivocal.

“No.”