Opinion | Imagining a Brokered Democratic Convention if Biden Drops Out
To the Editor:
Re “It’s Not as Easy as Just Getting Biden to Drop Out,” by Jamelle Bouie (newsletter, nytimes.com, Feb. 24):
Mr. Bouie claims that if President Biden were to step aside as the Democratic nominee and the Democratic Party convention were to spurn Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement, this would likely result in “a divisive nominee — who had neither earned the votes of Democratic voters nor weathered the vetting process of a primary campaign — and a fractured coalition.”
However, the truth is that Ms. Harris has never been vetted in a competitive primary race at the national level. As a presidential candidate, she dropped out of the 2020 primary race before the first contest because her candidacy was not appealing to the primary electorate.
Moreover, Ms. Harris usually polls more poorly than Mr. Biden does among the general electorate. Thus, if Mr. Biden’s polling is still bad enough come July that he feels the need to step aside, the most heroic thing that Ms. Harris could do to defend American democracy against Donald Trump would be to allow the convention to select another candidate with better prospects of defeating him.
Justin Delacour
Romeoville, Ill.
The writer is an associate professor of political science at Lewis University.
To the Editor:
I wholeheartedly agree with Jamelle Bouie that Ezra Klein in his Feb. 16 podcast has “underrated the real odds that a brokered convention would end in political disaster for the Democratic Party.” In actuality, I think such a convention this year would not only be self-defeating and foolhardy for the Democrats, but also would be disastrous for our country.
While I don’t agree with everything President Biden says and does, I consider him very competent in doing an extremely complicated and difficult job. Mr. Biden is firmly rooted in a shared sense of reality, has a keen understanding of what’s doable in light of current circumstances, and is the best candidate available. I also think that Mr. Biden is definitely electable, unless Democrats shoot themselves in the foot.
While I respect Ezra Klein immensely, and enjoy reading and reflecting on his smart and thoughtful commentary, I think that urging Mr. Biden to step aside is akin to encouraging political suicide, a dangerous step for our country.
Much more prudent is to put thought and effort into supporting Mr. Biden and electing him.
Shomer Zwelling
Williamsburg, Va.
To the Editor:
A strong case is made by Jamelle Bouie for the very real risks if President Biden were to drop out of the race and leave the Democratic nominee for president to a brokered convention in August, at which party insiders and delegates untethered to any public vote would choose the presidential nominee.
Perhaps then it is time for a drastic rethinking of the convention format itself.
I can imagine a nationwide mail-in vote among Democrats in late July to early August. The convention would be used to reveal those results state by state, and the delegates would thus be 100 percent tied to the voice of the people.
Would not a series of debates by prospective candidates and future leaders of the Democratic Party be the perfect forum, and a foil to the courtroom dramas and antics that surely await the G.O.P.? Would that not be the best means for the Democratic Party to regain visibility in a Trump-dominated news cycle?
Jonathan Breton
Mission Viejo, Calif.
The Need for Human Skills in a World of A.I.
To the Editor:
“When Your Technical Skills Are Eclipsed, Your Humanity Will Matter More Than Ever,” by Aneesh Raman and Maria Flynn (Opinion guest essay, nytimes.com, Feb. 14), provides an optimistic picture of artificial intelligence’s effect on the work force — one in which intuition and innovation trump raw intellect and technical prowess.
Their assessment leaves us with an important question: Can we become more human in a world becoming less so? What we need to be asking now is how.
Our approach to education needs an overhaul. We’re stuck in a system obsessed with standardized tests that robots can already pass in seconds. We’re busying our students with a game that’s already over at the expense of equipping them for what comes next.
We can’t afford incremental change. What’s needed is a fundamental shift that reorients instruction and evaluation around the REAL skills: resilience, empathy, agency and leadership. These abilities are truly “future-proof” because they’re the things that are uniquely human.
The complex problems facing humanity — polarization, inequality and an imminent climate crisis — require human solutions.
It’s time to start teaching kids the subject that matters most: themselves.
Abby Falik
Oakland, Calif.
The writer is a social entrepreneur and the founder of Global Citizen Year. She is currently a visiting fellow at Stanford, where she is designing a blueprint to transform how young people learn and lead.
To the Editor:
I have a Ph.D. in English literature. For nearly 30 years I worked in biomedical computing, focusing on research and regulatory reporting. I can think of no better preparation for my job.
Flexibility, imagination and analytical skills were far more significant contributors to my professional success than any specific technical information I could have acquired during my formal education.
Peggy Ann R. Morrison
Brookline, Mass.
To the Editor:
Small solace for those of us who are older and are losing our jobs because of A.I. and neural machine translation. I had never imagined that translators like me would become obsolete. As a freelancer, I can look forward only to some low-paying job in the service industry, and the companies reaping billions with A.I. couldn’t care less.
William Connors
Freiburg, Germany
Not All Fun and Games: A Lament About Florida
To the Editor:
Re “Florida Man Is In on the Joke, and Ready to Make a Game of It” (front page, Feb. 26):
Julio Capó Jr., a historian at Florida International University, commenting on the weird and wacky Florida Man games, is quoted as saying “there are very few attempts to take the state seriously.”
Fear not, Mr. Capó: Many of us take Florida very seriously and lament what we see, hear and read about the state. A dangerous measles outbreak. A state surgeon general who eschews vaccines. A law that allows people to carry concealed firearms without background checks, training or licenses. A board of education that requires public schools to teach that slavery benefited some Black people because it gave them useful skills. I could go on.
After many years of enthusiastic trips to the Gulf Coast to watch our hometown team at spring training, from now on we’ll spend our vacation dollars just about anywhere else.
And if Mr. Capó is right that Florida is “an important barometer of where the nation is headed,” then we all better wipe off the SPF 50, toss the margaritas and start watching that barometer fall, because the storm that’s coming could work irreparable harm far beyond the bounds of the Sunshine State.
Beth Palubinsky
Philadelphia
