Democratic strategist has novel idea on how to replace Biden with the help of Clinton and Obama

James Carville, chief strategist for Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign in 1992 and author of the famous phrase, "It's the economy, stupid," spoke on the Democratic Party’s internal thoughts on Joe Biden's candidacy. For him, it's only a matter of time before the president gives in to the pressure and abandons his reelection plans. 

Carville jumped right into the issue with the publication of an opinion piece in The New York Times, the title of which made his opinion on the matter very clear: "Biden Won’t Win. Democrats Need a Plan. Here’s One."

The president sought to dispel doubts about his candidacy after the July 4 recess through a letter dedicated to congressional Democrats.  "Now that you have returned from the July 4th recess, I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump," the commander-in-chief wrote. 

‘Mark my words: Joe Biden is going to be out of the 2024 presidential race’

For the strategist, Biden is going to end up falling short due to the unwinnable situation in the polls, so, sooner or later, he will end up announcing that he will not be the 2024 Democratic nominee. 

"Mark my words: Joe Biden is going to be out of the 2024 presidential race. Whether he is ready to admit it or not. His pleas on Monday to congressional Democrats for support will not unite the party behind him. Mr. Biden says he’s staying in the race, but it’s only a matter of time before Democratic pressure and public and private polling lead him to exit the race. The jig is up, and the sooner Mr. Biden and Democratic leaders accept this, the better. We need to move forward," Carville began. 

Of course this raises another question: who will be Biden's replacement? Here, the point man during Clinton's first campaign believes it would be a mistake to unite behind Kamala Harris, since that would be exactly the move the Trump campaign is hoping for. 

His proposal is not to elect the candidate "the backrooms of Washington, D.C., or Chicago," but a novel idea of public forums. 

Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to manage the process 

"I want to see the Democratic Party hold four historic town halls between now and the Democratic National Convention in August — one each in the South, the Northeast, the Midwest and the West. We can recruit the two most obvious and qualified people in the world to facilitate substantive discussions: Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. (...) Town halls — high-stakes job interviews for the toughest job in the world — would surely attract television and cable partners and generate record numbers of viewers. Think the Super Bowl with Taylor Swift in the stands. The young, the old and everyone in between will tune in to see history being made in real time," Carville explained of his plan. 

"How will potential nominees be chosen to participate in the town halls? There is no answer here that will satisfy everyone, but hard choices must be made given the tight timetable, and I think leaning on the input of former presidents makes good sense. So I would advise Presidents 42 and 44 to select eight leading contenders out of the pool of those who choose to run, with Ms. Harris most definitely getting a well-earned invite," he added. 

As for Harris, he described her as a "formidable" candidate against Trump, but she would also need to get through this sort of mini-primary in order to validate her leadership at the national level. 

The final vote will come down to the delegates at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) during August. 

"I trust them to reach a majority decision at the convention after a public and substantive process like this one, and you should, too. Sure, we’ve got some folks on the fringes, God love ’em. But the overwhelming majority of Democratic delegates are pragmatic patriots. They work hard and care deeply about their communities and our country. They come from small towns and big cities and everywhere in between," he concluded.