Kamala Harris would be a better candidate if she were already president

Forget the simple “weekend at Bernie’s.”

I would spend four years helping prop up a lifeless character if it meant preventing Donald Trump from ever entering the White House again.

But if President Biden decides to abandon his re-election bid – and that’s a huge change if — it won’t be enough.

He should then resign from his position completely.

That’s right, resign.

Here’s why: If he drops out of the race, Biden, 81, would be admitting what much of America believes: that he is not up to the grand task of leading the country for another four years.

So if that’s the case, why would anyone believe they could do this job for another six months?

And here’s an even better reason: Biden’s potential replacement can’t just campaign for the Democratic nomination. She has to be anointed.

The emphasis is on the word “she.”

Kamala Harris is the best candidate to replace Biden on the ticket — but only if she runs as incumbent president.

The last incumbent president to drop out of office was Lyndon Johnson in 1968. How did that work out for Democrats?

Republican Richard Nixon was sworn into office in 1969. He became embroiled in the Watergate corruption scandal and resigned in disgrace to avoid impeachment.

Trump, meanwhile, has already been impeached.

Twice.

The anointing strategy would allow Democrats to replace Biden while retaining their position.

One reason Biden voted against it, his opponents say, is the possibility that he might not complete another four-year term and the country would be stuck with Harris, who did not get good marks as Biden’s vice president.

But if voters get used to seeing Harris, 59, in the job, even for two or three months, they might welcome the idea of ​​her occupying the Oval Office for the next four years.

And all the frills that would accompany her status as the first woman in the White House would only help.

The history and momentum that would come with being the first black female president of the United States would go far beyond the constant scrutiny Biden faces every time he speaks or steps off a stage.

Since his disastrous performance in last month’s debate, Biden has been under the medical microscope, with countless comparisons to the movie “Weekend at Bernie’s,” which features a dead insurance boss whose comical employees pretend he’s still alive.

Despite attempts to reassure voters with a live news conference and network interviews, a growing number of Democratic lawmakers have called on Biden to abandon his campaign.

Among those jumping on Biden’s bandwagon was acclaimed actor George Clooney, who used a New York Times op-ed to call for a new candidate.

“As Democrats, we collectively hold our breath or turn down the volume every time we see the president, whom we respect, step off Air Force One or return to the microphone to answer an impromptu question,” Clooney wrote in the controversial article.

“We’re not going to win in November with this president. Plus, we’re not going to win the House and we’re going to lose the Senate.”

Meanwhile, the obsession with Biden’s cognitive state has given Trump, 78, carte blanche.

As the president stumbled and stammered during the debate, Trump lied so much about abortion and immigration that his pants nearly caught fire.

As long as we continue to treat Biden like he is Mr. Magoo, Trump can do no wrong. Trump could be caught on camera urinating behind his campaign bus, and no one would care.

Harris, as president, could change all that. Some polls already put her ahead of Trump of any other Democrat. And she has already come under scrutiny on the national stage.

“I wouldn’t have chosen her if I didn’t think she was qualified to be president,” Biden said of his vice president at Thursday’s news conference. “She’s qualified to be president, that’s why I chose her.”

It’s reassuring.

But Democrats and their supporters need to understand that it is not a question of who among them is best suited to lead the country, but of who can prevent Trump from reaching the White House.