US Jamaicans sorry to see Biden go, but warming to VP Kamala Harris
NEW YOKK, USA — President Joe Biden’s decision Sunday to quit the presidential race has left Jamaicans here mostly “heartbroken”, “shocked”, “disappointed” and “sad”, but many are already warming to Vice-President Kamala Harris to replace him.
Harris, whose father is Jamaican, has all but sewn up the Democratic nomination to take on former President Donald Trump in the November 5, 2024 presidential elections, after being endorsed by Biden and most other influential party leaders or potential contenders.
Sadie Campbell, president of the age-old People’s National Party-affiliated Jamaica Progressive League, said she was “unhappy that the president was forced out”, but immediately signalled her support for Harris.
“I will be watching keenly to see how Democrats deal with Kamala Harris who is now likely to become the nominee. If they fail to deal with her properly it will elicit my wrath,” Campbell declared in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.
Florida-based retired adjunct professor Raymond Rhoden said he was “heartbroken” that Biden had decided to step down, suggesting that “he was on course to becoming one of the most consequential presidents of our time”.
Rhoden, however, believed that Vice-President Harris would be able to defeat Trump, if she secures the nomination, which seemed certain yesterday.
“I just can’t vote for Donald Trump,” the former Republican who fell out with the party in 2008 over an Obama yard sign, told the Observer.
Biden quickly named Harris his successor Sunday with a ringing endorsement meant, apparently, to head off a messy fight to replace him that could likely hand the presidency to Trump.
“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as president for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my vice-president. And it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”
The president had been under mounting pressure from members of his own party as well as mega democratic donors to quit the race since a disastrous debate performance against Trump on June 27, 2024.
There have also been serious questions about the president’s ability to serve another four years, given his failing health at age 81.
Dr Allan Cunningham, a Florida-based university lecturer and prominent member of the Jamaican Diaspora here, said he was “shocked and dismayed” that the president had dropped out of the race.
“If he was going to do so he should have done it much, much earlier. I am concerned that there may not be sufficient time for whomever replaces Biden to mount a good campaign,” Dr Cunningham said.
Clarence Brown, a former member of ex-Correctional Officers Association, said he has “mixed feelings” over the president’s decision to end his campaign, noting that “he has shown the type of patriot he is and what he has done for the country”.
Brown said, however, that he was worried that if Vice-President Harris secured the nomination, as he believed she should, “we are likely to see some level of racism, sexism and classism”.
Rick Nugent, president of the Jamaica Association of Maryland, said he would have preferred the president to remain in the race, but “I have to respect his decision”, adding that “Biden has been an incredible president and I hope that whomever is the replacement can achieve what Biden was expected to achieve”.
President of the Caribbean Cricket Club of California Roy Davidson welcomed the president’s decision to end his campaign, saying Biden had achieved a successful presidency and would leave a rich legacy behind.
Leaford Daley, who called for the president to step aside, said he believed he had made the right choice. Similar sentiments were expressed by former civil servant Winston Melbourne, who also previously wanted the president to withdraw.