Back to California, where you might have a future.
Away from Washington, D.C., where they will never give you a fair shake.
You’re politically trapped. You’re the unpopular vice president of an unpopular president. As a team, the two of you are headed to a catastrophic election defeat, even though your likely opponent is an insurrectionist ex-president held legally liable for rape and facing multiple criminal indictments.
Two-thirds of Democrats, and anyone who can read swing state polls, want your boss, Joe Biden, not to run for re-election, and instead open the door for a campaign that could produce a more electable nominee. But everyone knows Biden, 81, will run anyway.
What’s more appalling is that you are getting much of the blame for much of this. Biden’s many allies in politics and media suggest he can’t drop out because the nomination would go to you.
They note that you do worse in presidential polls than him. But they leave unmentioned the truth that you’re unpopular because your job as vice president is to represent him, and he’s given you peanuts to work with. He and his administration have never articulated a clear vision or direction for the country, or a second term. Biden’s team has bungled crises, like the Afghanistan withdrawal, and broken promises to reverse toxic Trump policies like rights-violating immigration restrictions and inflation-inducing trade protections.
You’ve loyally represented Biden on those issues, and gotten nothing but criticism for it. Your critics claim that you’ve failed to articulate convincing defenses for Biden’s misbegotten policies, especially on immigration. The real problem is that his policies—which include mass deportation and denial of asylum requests—are indefensible.
It’s time for you to face reality: If you remain on the ticket as Biden’s vice president, there’s no way out. If Biden loses, you’ll take the blame.
If Biden somehow wins, you won’t get a lick of credit: The credit will all go to Trump’s awfulness. You’d still be confined to a second term of representing an elderly, visionless president, leaving you too weak to make a plausible presidential bid yourself in 2028.
Sometimes the best way forward is to step back. You should announce, as soon as possible, that you will not be the Democratic nominee for vice president next year.