President Biden is in a difficult position when it comes to student protests. That’s almost certainly why we’ve heard so little from him while all of this is going on all around the country.
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At today’s White House press briefing, AP reporter Zeke Miller asked the press secretary about it. KJP responded by bringing up Biden’s record on anti-Semitism and how he spoke out after the 2017 march at UVA. “Let’s not forget in 2017. He was very clear what we saw — the anti-Semitic vile that we saw in Charlottesville — on the streets of Charlottesville. He called that out. He called that out,” she said.
I can see why the White House went for this talking point but as Stephen Miller pointed out, his outspokenness then only makes his near silence now seem more conspicuous.
To deflect about why Joe Biden hasn’t given any personal in person statement about what’s happening right now, she goes back 6 years and notes how he spoke out about Charlottesville.
This is exactly the point people noticing that he’s AWOL now are making. https://t.co/5Npc5jvSee
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 1, 2024
Over at the Washington Post, Aaron Blake states the obvious: Biden can’t afford to lose any more potential voters.
Here’s why Biden has engaged in this delicate dance: In a close race, he can’t afford to lose voters or even have disillusioned ones sit the election out — be they more pro-Palestinian young people or more pro-Israel older Americans.
Biden has kept his comments on the protests brief and often let others speak for him. Last week, he condemned “the antisemitic protests” while also taking care to condemn “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians” — a reflection of his long-standing triangulation on the war in Gaza…
There is certainly some potential value in Biden being circumspect and not picking sides. But there is also real danger in not using the bully pulpit to try to guide an issue dominating the headlines, instead letting it fester and allowing the divisions to become truly ingrained. Without guidance from the top, state and local officials are taking very different approaches, with significant potential consequences both for the nation and 2024 politics.
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Axios has a story up today reporting that Democrats are nervous about what is happening.
Asked if the protests are giving Democrats political heartburn, a House Democrat told Axios, “How could it not, right?”
“We need to remember that a vote for Trump or sitting out this election or voting third party is a vote for Netanyahu,” the Democrat said.
National Democrats may be holding back in some cases to avoid putting pressure on the president or other colleagues but not everyone is willing to play along with that game. Case in point, the College Democrats of America who just approved a demand for Joe Biden and the rest of the party to side with the protesters.
In a statement approved by the organization’s executive board by a vote of 8 to 2, the College Democrats praised student protesters for having “the moral clarity to see this war for what it is: destructive, genocidal and unjust,” and condemned college administrators for suspending and calling in the police to arrest them…
“As College Democrats, we are committed to the re-election of President Biden and Democrats across down-ballot races in every corner of our nation,” the statement said. “However, as representatives of youth across the country, we reserve the right to criticize our own party when it fails to represent youth voices.”
It continued: “As young voters, we are well aware that come November, our votes will determine who wins the White House. The White House has taken the mistaken route of a bear-hug strategy for Netanyahu and a cold-shoulder strategy for its own base and all Americans who want to see an end to this war.”
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The young progressives are making explicit demands while Biden is hiding in the Oval, hoping this will pass before he has to say or do much of anything. This is a return to Biden’s campaign from the basement. It’s a very different approach to what Trump or Obama would have done. Trump just condemns the protesters. Obama would have announced an important speech to the country and staked out the middle ground between extreme positions that never really existed in the real world. Can’t you hear it now?
Some say that student protesters should be put in meat grinders and fed to wild hogs, while others believe the only solution is to hand Israel to Hamas for 50 years. But I reject this false choice…
Biden never had Obama’s gift of gab and probably won’t try something like that. As CNN put it today, there’s no easy solution to this problem.
For the president, the dueling domestic and foreign policy challenges have imposed a unique burden six months before the election. It’s a rare moment that puts the demand for strong presidential leadership at odds with empathy, a trademark of his public persona.
The Biden campaign is closely watching the protests unfold, particularly those in battleground states, and advisers are keenly aware of the domestic political consequences of the administration’s policy toward Israel but remain hopeful the crisis in the region eases by the fall.
“If politics was driving this, the president obviously would have changed course months ago,” a senior Democratic adviser told CNN, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic inside the campaign. “But there is not a simple political solution to this. It’s driven by complex policy decisions without easy answers.”
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So that’s where we are. The White House is willing to say that protests are fine but occupying buildings is not. But for now you’re going to hear that mostly from Biden’s spokespeople. He is keeping his distance from this one as much as possible. Just how long he’ll be able to do that remains to be seen.
AP’s @ZekeJMiller: “And just quickly, does the President support those police clearing operations like we saw in New York, like we’ve seen on some of these other college campuses?”
KJP: “Look, we’ve been very clear on that. Americans have the right to peacefully protest. They… pic.twitter.com/nGD4EG6Ce5
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 1, 2024
