I don’t know if that as a theory works out in practice. You never primary a sitting first term President. It would arguably have looked worse if he walked away after one. It would look like the Dems don’t take the office seriously. This way he’s been forced out, which shows how seriously he and the party have wanted to win this one.

This pivot has caught the GOP on the hop, their strategy in its entirety is ad-hominem attacks on Biden. They’ve lost the one play they had as evidenced by Stephen Miller’s melting down on tv on behalf of Dem primary voters (of all people) I’m not certain if Dems had opened the floor to candidates, or even if they’d straight up put Harris at the top of the ticket at the outset, that we’d be feeling as positive and hopeful as the donor base clearly is today. Is America ready to elect its first woman of color President? I’d say we’re closer today than any day in history. 10-12 months of media and bigots doing their thing to angry up the blood and sell airtime to advertisers would have made Hillary’s run look like a picnic at the park. Not to mention the anuswrinkle’s circus and his flying monkeys throwing their own faeces about wherever they go. The primary voters in ‘16 were so pissy about not getting their pick (feel the Bern and co.) there was never united support behind Hillary and in doing so that lack of unity handed anuswrinkle his throne for 4 years.

Sadly I think VP Harris is in for a particularly nasty barrage of that vitriolic, insecure, and ignorant shitshow, but it’s going to be an abridged version. There are only so many minutes and so many column inches between now and November, I think time is on her side.

This happening at such a late date has forced party unity out of necessity. There is no time to complain about the what ifs. The whole party machine has to pivot and consolidate in a sprint for the next 3 months - they’re too busy to do anything but rally. The party operatives are all “in the trenches” together now and this may very well turn out to be the best of all possible timelines for 2024.

The ideal scenario would’ve been for Biden to keep his word about him being a transitional candidate that would step aside after one term.

He didn't really promise per se. He said in some interviews that he saw himself as a bridge candidate, but he never made a pledge. I assume he was trying to not make himself a lame duck president right out of the gate, which can make it difficult to pass policies.