CNN Newsroom - UCLA Political Scientist Benjamin Radd joins CNN International to discuss President Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race
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of a ten-year-old girl. I couldn't be more excited to have the opportunity to elect a woman as president of the United States Benjamin ran that is a political scientist at UCLA and he joins us now from Los Angeles.
>> Appreciate you being with us thank you for having me so Kamala Harris and her team moved very quickly in the midst of this historic moment, making hundreds of urgent calls to rally support behind her from delegates to lawmakers, to donors how important is it for Harris to lock in her nomination along with a running mate and avoid an open convention next month. And can she do this? Do you think?
>> Well if what the voters are looking for and what the party is looking for is the person who is best positioned to continue the Biden agenda than Harris makes perfect choice and is the right pick for this she obviously being Joe Biden's vice president, most familiar with his policies has been side-by-side with Jim as he is gone through the last few years with the both the ups and downs
00:01:01
that she's that Biden has had to deal with. So she's best positioned to execute and continue the Biden legacy, if you will and so it remains to be seen, however, if she can convince any holdouts who might be preferring an open primary or some other options, whether or not she is up to the task. But if it's a continuation of the voters are looking for, she seems to make the most logical sense.
>> And of course, we usually say the running mate doesn't matter and plays a very small role in the political calculation. But that's not the case in this situation, is that Harris needs to stave off a vote against let's turn next month by selecting one of her potential challengers as a running mate, who do you think would be her best choice well, that's indeed an issue and there are several reasons for this.
>> There's number one, she served a brief term in the senate and doesn't have any national experience beyond that senate term. She also doesn't have any foreign policy experience that would really lend credibility and shore up
00:02:03
the need there. In contrast with president Biden, who has had extensive foreign policy experience given his ears on the senate foreign relations committee, and having been around Washington for this long, so she will have to look for somebody who can both provide the experience on the national level that she currently lacks aside from her tenure as vice president, coupled with maybe somebody who has some foreign policy bonafides and can demonstrate the ability to help lead the government on matters critical to foreign policy. As of right now, it appears those candidates it might be one of several governors whose names have been floated out, especially those from either red states or swing states. They seem to be the most likely. But again, we could all be surprised just as we were with today's timing.
>> Yeah, and of course, as you speaking to us, were looking at some of those possibilities just next to you there on the television. Donald Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, house speaker Mike Johnson, are both calling for Joe Biden to resign his office immediately. They
00:03:04
say, if he's not fit to run for president, then he's not fit to serve as president. What do you say to that and what's the process and precedent for this going forward?
>> Well, they're absolutely isn't it? It's it's obvious at attempted to flexion from what they were very unprepared for, which was the sudden decision by Joe Biden to not run for reelection. Essentially, what Joe Biden is signaling and what his supporters have signaled is that he absolutely has the capacity, the mental acuity, the cognitive ability to complete his term. The question wasn't whether or not he wouldn't be able to act or function as president. The question was whether or not he could overcome doubts from voters, donors, and others that were important to his nomination to secure reelection. And so it's very two different jobs running for the office and then maintaining the office itself. And the responsibilities within it. They do overlap, but they are not the same and so I think this can be dismissed as an attempt to again, deflect from all of a sudden deaths, sudden
00:04:04
change in the race and of course it has to be said the president Joe Biden, made a tough and historic decision Sunday to step aside and anoint his vp Kamala Harris, as his replacement.
>> What legacy does he leave behind well, it's an impressive legacy on several fronts, given where the United States was four years ago coming out of the covid crisis, facing all kinds of domestic and international issues he seems to have handled the domestic issues extremely well by all accounts, especially relative to where his predecessor had left the office.
>> However, where his legacy will be a bit more mixed, will be on foreign policy despite the U.s steadfast support for Ukraine, which many in the country, many in congress supported and think that served the president effectively well, especially when it came to strengthening and expanding nato. The withdrawal from Afghanistan is something that will be criticized for years to come. And then there's still the ongoing israel-hamas conflict and the fact that there has been no ceasefire and release of hostages yet, and
00:05:05
whether or not president Biden could have or should have done more to bring about a a conclusion to that conflict Benjamin read in Los Angeles
>> Appreciate you being with us thank you for having me so Kamala Harris and her team moved very quickly in the midst of this historic moment, making hundreds of urgent calls to rally support behind her from delegates to lawmakers, to donors how important is it for Harris to lock in her nomination along with a running mate and avoid an open convention next month. And can she do this? Do you think?
>> Well if what the voters are looking for and what the party is looking for is the person who is best positioned to continue the Biden agenda than Harris makes perfect choice and is the right pick for this she obviously being Joe Biden's vice president, most familiar with his policies has been side-by-side with Jim as he is gone through the last few years with the both the ups and downs
00:01:01
that she's that Biden has had to deal with. So she's best positioned to execute and continue the Biden legacy, if you will and so it remains to be seen, however, if she can convince any holdouts who might be preferring an open primary or some other options, whether or not she is up to the task. But if it's a continuation of the voters are looking for, she seems to make the most logical sense.
>> And of course, we usually say the running mate doesn't matter and plays a very small role in the political calculation. But that's not the case in this situation, is that Harris needs to stave off a vote against let's turn next month by selecting one of her potential challengers as a running mate, who do you think would be her best choice well, that's indeed an issue and there are several reasons for this.
>> There's number one, she served a brief term in the senate and doesn't have any national experience beyond that senate term. She also doesn't have any foreign policy experience that would really lend credibility and shore up
00:02:03
the need there. In contrast with president Biden, who has had extensive foreign policy experience given his ears on the senate foreign relations committee, and having been around Washington for this long, so she will have to look for somebody who can both provide the experience on the national level that she currently lacks aside from her tenure as vice president, coupled with maybe somebody who has some foreign policy bonafides and can demonstrate the ability to help lead the government on matters critical to foreign policy. As of right now, it appears those candidates it might be one of several governors whose names have been floated out, especially those from either red states or swing states. They seem to be the most likely. But again, we could all be surprised just as we were with today's timing.
>> Yeah, and of course, as you speaking to us, were looking at some of those possibilities just next to you there on the television. Donald Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, house speaker Mike Johnson, are both calling for Joe Biden to resign his office immediately. They
00:03:04
say, if he's not fit to run for president, then he's not fit to serve as president. What do you say to that and what's the process and precedent for this going forward?
>> Well, they're absolutely isn't it? It's it's obvious at attempted to flexion from what they were very unprepared for, which was the sudden decision by Joe Biden to not run for reelection. Essentially, what Joe Biden is signaling and what his supporters have signaled is that he absolutely has the capacity, the mental acuity, the cognitive ability to complete his term. The question wasn't whether or not he wouldn't be able to act or function as president. The question was whether or not he could overcome doubts from voters, donors, and others that were important to his nomination to secure reelection. And so it's very two different jobs running for the office and then maintaining the office itself. And the responsibilities within it. They do overlap, but they are not the same and so I think this can be dismissed as an attempt to again, deflect from all of a sudden deaths, sudden
00:04:04
change in the race and of course it has to be said the president Joe Biden, made a tough and historic decision Sunday to step aside and anoint his vp Kamala Harris, as his replacement.
>> What legacy does he leave behind well, it's an impressive legacy on several fronts, given where the United States was four years ago coming out of the covid crisis, facing all kinds of domestic and international issues he seems to have handled the domestic issues extremely well by all accounts, especially relative to where his predecessor had left the office.
>> However, where his legacy will be a bit more mixed, will be on foreign policy despite the U.s steadfast support for Ukraine, which many in the country, many in congress supported and think that served the president effectively well, especially when it came to strengthening and expanding nato. The withdrawal from Afghanistan is something that will be criticized for years to come. And then there's still the ongoing israel-hamas conflict and the fact that there has been no ceasefire and release of hostages yet, and
00:05:05
whether or not president Biden could have or should have done more to bring about a a conclusion to that conflict Benjamin read in Los Angeles
CNN Newsroom - UCLA Political Scientist Benjamin Radd joins CNN International to discuss President Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race
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