MAURA HEALEY didn’t get where she is by throwing caution to the wind
The two-term attorney general had a careful, lawyerly way about her, and she skated into the governor’s office two years ago virtually unchallenged in the Democratic primary or general election, a glide path that meant she was rarely pressed to take firm stands on tough issues.
That made it all the more surprising when, two days after she joined other Democratic governors last week at White House meeting with President Biden to talk about his teetering candidacy, Healey issued a statement questioning whether he should remain the party’s nominee.
“The best way forward right now is a decision for the President to make,” she said. “Over the coming days, I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump. Whatever President Biden decides, I am committed to doing everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump.”
GBH’s Adam Reily says that comment made her the first Democratic governor to suggest that Biden give up the nomination.
While Healey’s public statement was hardly welcome news for the Biden team, which was hoping the White House meeting would rally governors to his side, she was apparently even more blunt in private conversations. The New York Times reported that earlier in the week she told other Democratic governors as well as Biden’s chief of staff that the president’s political standing was “irretrievable” following his disastrous debate performance against Trump.
So which is it? Does Healey think Biden needs to think long and hard about whether he’s the best hope for beating Trump, or is it, in fact, clear that he isn’t?
Maybe her public pronouncement stopped short of her private one, but veteran Massachusetts Democratic strategist Doug Rubin thinks it’s a distinction without a huge difference.
“My initial reaction is there’s not much difference between what she said publicly and what she said privately,” he said. “You can believe that his position is irretrievable but understand that the way the process is set up nothing much will happen until the president makes his own decision.”
In other words, Healey may have said it more politely in her public statement, but to ask the question of whether Biden is the right candidate to defeat Trump is, in many ways, to answer it.
Arline Isaacson, a long-time political strategist and co-chair of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, shares the deep concern of other Democrats over Biden’s debate performance and ability to beat Trump, but added a note of caution against the rush to embrace the idea of replacing him.
“I respect Maura’s opinion, but I’m concerned she might be jumping a little too quickly in that direction,” Isaacson said. “The process of choosing a replacement for Biden is much more complicated than people realize.” And Isaacson said each would-be replacement brings liabilities as well as assets to a race that is all about “winning the purple states,” a reference to the handful of swing states that will decide the election.
If someone had a crystal ball that could foretell the best outcome for Democrats, that could of course end the intra-party debate now raging. Without those predictive powers, said Rubin, it takes some political courage to show your hand.
“I give her a ton of credit,” he said of Healey’s stance. “She’s one of the few politicians who was willing to be honest with people and say, look, this is the situation we’re in right now.”
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