It’s finally Joe-ver, as we say Bye-den to the 46th President, and hello (presumably) to Kamala Harris, who is now likely to be the Democrat nominee for November’s election, following and endorsement from President Biden after dropping out of the race.

America is doing fine. Economically it is the cradle of AI and owns much of the technology which will drive growth, socially it is self-confidant and winning things (it picked up all four golf majors this year). It is not fighting any wars , it is not facing any pandemics, it is benefiting from the political stability of not having Trump in charge. On all counts, its current good run should continue and the forthcoming elections should be a shut-out for Trump.

But America seems to have a blind-spot to age and cognitive impairment. It could not see that an 82 year old man is not the man he was in the prime of his career and so it has allowed  Biden to carry the  hopes of the Democrats into the presidential election at the end of next year.

That is until it became abundantly clear that Joe Biden was not up to the job now , let alone in four years time. Now – like the Kremlin of old – an internal putsch had deposed Biden as a future president and anointed his deputy Kamala Harris without a whiff of a Democratic vote on the matter. If the Democrats play is that Trump is bad for democracy, they aren’t exactly winning in that respect either.

We have seen in the UK the impact on a political party of leadership contests determined by a political elite. The UK public hates it and the American public won’t like it any more.

I wrote a blog the morning after the night before Joe Biden’s big debating blunder, arguing that retirement is a thing greatly to be admired in a man. We should know our limits and not exceed them. Joe Biden didn’t know his limits and what is worse for the Democratic party, neither did his inner circle. They didn’t know when to stop and now they are carrying on as if they know where to start. This is so not a good look.

The picture we get is one of a carefully positioned elitism. I know Kamala Harris has had to struggle to get to the top and she is breaking new ground but she looks like arriving as the presidential Democratic candidate as a shoe on- just as Rishi Sunak was a shoe-in. Race and colour are not the issue, elitism is.

An All American cock-up

Trump is favorite to be the next President sworn in in January

Betfair has Michelle Obama third favorite at 25-1. This is a two horse race with Harris’ odds at outset rather better than Biden’s yesterday afternoon.

These things can change, but right now America looks odds on to elect a crook into the White House after he made a pretty bad fist of running the country the first time. Meantime, a party that was getting things done and making America great again is a long-priced second.

Unless we believe in Trump’s lack of values and prize his antics over proper Government , this is a bad thing. We want a well run America just as America wants a well run Britain, we are the junior partner but we have a special relationship which is more than just a name.

The Democratic party has played its hand as badly as the Conservative party in the UK. Poor leadership, a weak internal governance model and a sense of entitlement have led to them looking exactly what Trump accuses them of being.

The Democrats only have themselves to blame for their political mismanagement and history will ask what were they thinking, allowing Joe Biden to hang on so long.