Biden and Harris together Thursday for a delicate pas de deux

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who replaced him as candidate for the White House, will have to perform a politically delicate pas de deux on Thursday during a trip devoted to the economy.

Since the political earthquake caused by the withdrawal of the 81-year-old Democrat on July 21, the president and vice president appeared in public together on August 2, to welcome prisoners released by Russia, including journalist Evan Gershkovich.

This time, they are going to Maryland, near Washington, for speeches devoted to purchasing power, one of the major axes of Joe Biden's economic policy and one of the major political vulnerabilities of the Democrats.

Inflation is falling in the United States and growth remains robust, but that does not prevent Donald Trump from constantly accusing his adversaries of having crushed households with an unbearable cost of living.

“For nearly four years, Kamala has done nothing but laugh while the American economy has sunk into crisis,” the Republican candidate said at a rally on Wednesday.

He accused the vice president, who will present the broad outlines of her economic program on Friday, of having “thrown billions of dollars out the window.”

This is the first time that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden will campaign together, even if it is strictly speaking a trip in their official functions, and not a rally or fundraiser.

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– “I'm looking for a job” –

The balance of power between the 59-year-old Democrat and the head of state of 81 years old was obviously upset.

In terms of protocol, Joe Biden still has precedence. But by giving up his candidacy, he has lost all political capital, especially given the undeniable momentum gained so far by the vice president.

Kamala Harris has managed to catch up with or even slightly surpass Donald Trump according to the polls in certain key states, something that Joe Biden, weighed down by concerns about his age, had never managed to do.

According to the American press, the president, whose position had become untenable after a calamitous debate at the end of June with Donald Trump, has more or less accepted to foresee the end of a political career that began more than fifty years ago.

“I'm looking for a job,” he even joked on Wednesday, while receiving influencers at the White House. But he still harbors bitterness toward some senior Democratic leaders, believing they pushed him out.

So far, the president has stayed away from Kamala Harris' campaign.

The vice president must chart her own course, without openly disavowing the policies pursued by the president she has supported since January 2021.

Without ostentatiously snubbing Joe Biden, Kamala Harris will probably not want to be burdened by this unpopular president, who certainly has a certain amount of sympathy capital among Democrats, but is incapable of warming up the rooms in the manner of a vibrant orator such as Barack Obama.

The two presidents, the current and the former, will speak next week at the Democratic convention in Chicago.

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