The merchandise stand at the Democratic National Committee meeting where Joe Biden delivered his reelection soft launch this weekend had three tote bag options, two T-shirts, two sweatshirts and a donkey baseball cap, but nothing with any reference to the president himself.
There were no vendors selling unofficial Biden gear on fold-up tables in the Philadelphia streets outside. Only one leftover from the 2020 campaign was spotted: the navy blue Biden-Harris jacket that Cedric Richmond, the former congressman and White House adviser, was wearing as he arrived in the cold.
The Democrats who came to cheer Biden on said they didn’t need to feel the same personal passion they did for Barack Obama, or even Bill Clinton – not when they’ve got Biden’s record, and a Republican Party still dominated by Trumpism, to run against.
“At the end of the day, you can see Donald Trump’s face on a T-shirt, but he lost the 2020 election. That’s not what’s important. What’s important is, ‘Are we changing the lives of the American people?’” said DNC chair Jaime Harrison, pushing back on any hesitation about Biden as he rattled off statistics about the economy improving and Democrats doing much better than expected in the midterms.
The DNC members – the state party chairs and other super-involved Democrats who traveled the country to attend meetings of the committee’s Rules and Bylaws panel – were loudly chanting, “Four more years” as Biden spoke Friday evening at a dreary Sheraton. Even among this crowd, many saw Biden in 2020 as a candidate of pragmatic compromise, rather than devotion and excitement. Now they’re embracing him as the candidate of calm and competence, even if not love, as they rally around his reelection, multiple members told CNN.
“The fact of the matter is – and I love Barack Obama – [Biden] has actually got more…
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