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Oh Lord, Biden replied.

They talked for a moment about why Biden hadnt run. Duggan was regretful. Biden was emotional.

I want to be the first person to sign up for the 2020 campaign, Duggan told him, because this never would have happened if you were the candidate.

Biden, quiet, deflected.

Michigan wound up going to Trump by 10,704 votes.

Biden walked into the next room to call Obama. That conversation didnt last long. There wasnt much to say.

Later, Obama phoned Clinton. He was just as level with her as hed been with everyone else: Democrats couldnt fight the results. She resisted. He then called John Podesta, Clintons campaign chair and his own former senior adviser, catching him after he gave a speech at the Javits Center, trying to buy time. Now Podesta was riding back to Clintons hotel in a van full of depressed campaign staffers. Youve got to make her concede, Obama told him.

The president was looking at the numbers as he spoke. She cant come back. Dont fight it anymore. Podesta listened, finally agreeing.

I feel like I really let you down, Mr. President, he said. I feel like I really let her down.

Read: Hillary Clinton says she was right all along

While they were speaking, Clintons closest aide, Huma Abedin, called another aide, Jennifer Palmieri, who was sitting in the van next to Podesta. Well, Abedin said. She did it. Clinton had called Trump to concede. She didnt call Obama back that night to tell him she had done so.

After Obama himself phoned Trump to congratulate him, he called two of his closest aides, his deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, and his speechwriter Cody Keenan, well into a bottle of whiskey at Keenans apartment, to talk through what he was going to say in the Rose Garden in the morning. I have to do this the right way, he insisted. He dictated most of the text. Do you want to put any reassurance in there for our allies around the world? Rhodes asked. I cant give it to them, Obama answered. They left that part out.

The next few days were full of tears and West Wing moments: Obama saying how proud he was of everyone and urging people to run through the tape and stay focused on their work. No one really could. Aides who used to spend their days being snarky and tough had tears streaming down their faces. On the morning after the election, they waited for Clinton to finally give her concession speech up in New York. Then Obama came out into the Rose Garden, Biden at his side, saying something about how the sun would rise tomorrow. Thered never been so many staff gathered there. They did not look as if they believed the sun would rise tomorrow. They could barely see it then.

Im not running, Biden was insisting to people in the spring of 2017.

But then to others hed say, If Im walking, Im running.

Read this article:
How Joe Biden Really Decided to Run for President - The Atlantic

A former aide to failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called for packing the Supreme Court and said President Bidens commission to explore that possibility is "doomed from the start."

Bidens Supreme Court commission, which has its first meeting Wednesday, will eventually produce a report on possible changes to the court, including expanding the number of seats.

But Brian Fallon, the executive director of liberal dark money group Demand Justice, says he isn't holding his breath about what the commission will say.

LIBERALS RAMP UP CALLS FOR SUPREME COURT JUSTICE BREYER TO RETIRE

"It's not even on my calendar, because I don't care," Fallon, a former Clinton aide, told Politico on Monday.

Fallon, who also served in the Obama administration as a spokesman at the Department of Justice, added that there wasnt a thing the commission would do that was "going to impress" him and added that he believes the "whole thing is doomed from the start."

"We oughta have a Black woman on the damn court to hear a case like this," Fallon also said, in reference to the Mississippi abortion case taken up by the Supreme Court on Monday.

BIDEN'S SUPREME COURT COMMISSION TO MEET WITH KEY ABORTION CASE LOOMING

Demand Justice is a liberal advocacy group that is pushing to add four new justices to the Supreme Court, claiming on their website the court "has been hijacked" and that the justices appointed under former President Trump have "fought to restrict womens access to reproductive health services and deny equal treatment to LGBTQ Americans."

Fallon and fellow critics have blasted Bidens court-packing commission for including members opposed to expanding the Supreme Court and producing a report rather than recommendations on whether to pack the court.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Bidens commission is set to meet on Wednesday after the Supreme Court took up the major abortion case on Monday. The commissions report will be due by mid-November, likely when the case is heard.

The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, concerns a Mississippi law that bans abortion procedures after 15 weeks. Lower courts blocked the law but Mississippi, like other right-leaning states in recent years, appealed the rulings to the Supreme Court in hopes that the new 6-3 Republican-appointed majority might expand the scope of allowable state regulations or bans on abortion.

Fox News Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

Read more here:
Ex-Clinton aide says Biden's Supreme Court commission is 'doomed from the start,' calls for court packing - Fox News

What is going on?

President Joe Biden is on primetime television almost every day.

He looks into the camera directly, seriously and calmly explaining the countrys challenges and possible solutions. He has a near monopoly on network news coverage and the non-Fox cable news/opinion channels.

The free news coverage is priceless.

Ask former President Donald Trump. He could tell you how coverage of his rallies and his use of social media gave him a unique edge in his two runs for the presidency.

Democrats and progressives are loading up paid TV message ads that promote Bidens programs and portray him as calm, cool, collected, competent and healthy.

D.G. Martin

Certainly, this media campaign is designed to secure and sustain public support for Biden and his proposed economic recovery legislation.

Also, it is certainly designed to bolster Democratic chances in the 2022 mid-term congressional elections.

Still, with Biden everywhere, you could believe that the 2024 presidential campaign has begun.

And Biden is running hard.

I remember thinking during the 2020 Trump-Biden contest that Biden, at 78 years old when he took office, would only be a bridge president. After beating Trump, he would, at age 82 in 2024, step aside for a younger Democratic candidate who would secure his legacy.

It might be Vice President Kamala Harris or another popular senator, governor or other high office holder.

The problem with this scenario is illustrated by the losing campaigns of Al Gore, Bill Clintons vice president, in 2000 and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obamas first term secretary of state, in 2016.

Neither Gore nor Hillary Clinton could win an Electoral College victory, even though Bill Clinton and Obama, arguably, would have won reelection had they been permitted to run.

Will Biden really run again? Here is what he said at his first news conference as president, My plan is to run for reelection. Thats my expectation.

But he also said, Im a great respecter of fate. Ive never been able to plan four and half, three and a half years ahead for certain.

Biden asserts an intent to run again so he is not perceived as a lame duck who loses the influence, authority and sway that belong to a president who could be elected to another term. But he seems to be preserving the option to change his mind.

Whether or not he runs again, Biden has been running for president most of his life.

Some remember a North Carolina connection to his decades-long series of presidential candidacies.

As I reported earlier, in 1986 I was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Congress in a district that had been represented by Republicans for many years. The race was close. Lots of senators and members of Congress came to campaign with me. I loved hobnobbing with famous political personages like Jim Wright, Claude Pepper and Charles Rangel and future presidential candidates Bill Bradley, Dick Gephardt and Gary Hart. But these visits often drove our campaign volunteers crazy trying to figure out how to readjust our campaign schedule, develop an appropriate program for them and gather respectable crowds to greet them.

One of these visitors was Sen. Joe Biden, then in his mid-40s. His staff gave our campaign scheduler Marcia Webster only a day or two to prepare. She called some of the loyal supporters who never said no even to the most challenging requests.

One of these, Brenda Barger, remembers that she and her husband Hugh hosted a small group at their farm near Davidson. Mayor Russell Knox and College Union director Shaw Smith came to meet Biden and hear him talk about a run for president some day.

I lost that congressional election, but we learned that Biden was energetic and focused, traits that will serve him again if he runs in 2024.

D.G. Martin hosts North Carolina Bookwatch at 3:30 p.m. Sunday and 5 p.m. Tuesday on PBS North Carolina (formerly UNC-TV).

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DG MARTIN COLUMN: Biden's reelection campaign - The Stanly News & Press | The Stanly News & Press - Stanly News & Press

Today in History

Today is Monday, May 17, the 137th day of 2021. There are 228 days left in the year.

Todays Highlight in History:

On May 17, 1954, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court handed down its Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision which held that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal, and therefore unconstitutional.

On this date:

In 1792, the New York Stock Exchange had its beginnings as a group of brokers met under a tree on Wall Street and signed the Buttonwood Agreement.

In 1875, the first Kentucky Derby was run; the winner was Aristides, ridden by Oliver Lewis.

In 1946, President Harry S. Truman seized control of the nations railroads, delaying but not preventing a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen.

In 1973, a special committee convened by the U.S. Senate began its televised hearings into the Watergate scandal.

In 1980, rioting that claimed 18 lives erupted in Miamis Liberty City after an all-white jury in Tampa acquitted four former Miami police officers of fatally beating Black insurance executive Arthur McDuffie.

In 1987, 37 American sailors were killed when an Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S. Navy frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf. (Iraq apologized for the attack, calling it a mistake, and paid more than $27 million in compensation.)

In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed a measure requiring neighborhood notification when sex offenders move in. (Megans Law, as its known, was named for Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was raped and murdered in 1994.)

In 2002, former President Jimmy Carter ended a historic visit to Cuba sharply at odds with the Bush administration over how to deal with Fidel Castro, saying limits on tourism and trade often hurt Americans more than Cubans.

In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to allow same-sex marriages.

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that young people serving life prison terms should have a meaningful opportunity to obtain release provided they didnt kill their victims.

In 2015, a shootout erupted between bikers and police outside a restaurant in Waco, Texas, leaving nine of the bikers dead and 20 people injured.

In 2017, the Justice Department appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to oversee a federal investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the 2016 Donald Trump campaign.

Ten years ago: Queen Elizabeth II began the first visit by a British monarch to the Republic of Ireland, a four-day trip to highlight strong Anglo-Irish relations and the success of Northern Ireland peacemaking. Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed a Los Angeles Times report that he had fathered a child with a woman on his household staff more than a decade earlier. (Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, had announced their separation on May 9, 2011.) Baseball Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, 74, died in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Five years ago: Bernie Sanders won Oregons Democratic presidential primary while Hillary Clinton eked out a razor-thin victory in Kentucky. Federal investigators concluded that a speeding Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia in May 2015, killing eight people, most likely ran off the rails because the engineer was distracted by word of a nearby commuter train getting hit by a rock. Guy Clark, the Grammy-winning musician who mentored a generation of songwriters, died in Nashville at age 74.

One year ago: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was tested for the coronavirus on live TV as he announced that all people in the state who were experiencing flu-like symptoms were eligible for tests. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressed optimism that the U.S. economy could begin to recover in the second half of the year, assuming that there would not be a second wave, but he suggested in a CBS 60 Minutes interview that a full recovery would likely not be possible before the arrival of a vaccine. A spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Ghani and his political rival Abdullah Abdullah had signed a power-sharing agreement, two months after both men declared themselves the winner of the countrys presidential election.

Todays Birthdays: Actor Peter Gerety is 81. Singer Taj Mahal is 79. Rock musician Bill Bruford is 72. TV personality Kathleen Sullivan is 68. Boxing Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Leonard is 65. Actor-comedian Bob Saget is 65. Sports announcer Jim Nantz is 62. Producer Simon Fuller (TV: American Idol) is 61. Singer Enya is 60. Actor-comedian Craig Ferguson is 59. Rock singer-musician Page McConnell is 58. Actor David Eigenberg is 57. Singer-musician Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) is 56. Actor Paige Turco is 56. R&B musician ODell (Mint Condition) is 56. Actor Hill Harper is 55. TV personality/interior designer Thom Filicia is 52. Singer Jordan Knight is 51. R&B singer Darnell Van Rensalier (Shai) is 51. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is 50. Actor Sasha Alexander is 48. Rock singer-musician Josh Homme (HAHM-ee) is 48. Rock singer Andrea Corr (The Corrs) is 47. Actor Sendhil Ramamurthy (SEN-dul rah-mah-MURTH-ee) is 47. Actor Rochelle Aytes is 45. Singer Kandi Burruss is 45. Actor Kat Foster is 43. Actor Ayda Field is 42. Actor Ginger Gonzaga is 38. Folk-rock singer/songwriter Passenger is 37. Dancer-choreographer Derek Hough (huhf) is 36. Actor Tahj Mowry is 35. Actor Nikki Reed is 33. Singer Kree Harrison (TV: American Idol) is 31. Actor Leven Rambin is 31. Actor Samantha Browne-Walters is 30. Actor Justin Martin is 27.

See the original post here:
Today in History - Associated Press

According to a new study conducted by Leading Asian Americans to Unite for Change (LAAUNCH), 37% of white Americans say they are not aware of an increase in hate crimes and racism against Asian-Americans over the past year.

Twenty-four percent of these study participants also said that anti-Asian American racism isnt a problem that needs addressing.

Most striking though, is the finding that 42% of Americans answered Dont know when asked to name a prominent Asian-American, while 11% named the martial arts icon Bruce Lee, and Jackie Chan who is not an American citizen.

This particular statistic is troubling, considering U.S.s Vice President is of South Asian descent, and many other prominent Asian-Americans appear in mainstream media quite often, such as Andrew Yang, Awkafina, Mindy Kaling, Riz Ahmed, Ted Lieu and Olivia Rodrigo.

LAAUNCHs study also revealed something much less shocking 80% of Asian-Americans dont feel respected and believe they are discriminated against. The current statistics on hate, harassment and violence back up their collective feelings.

According to the online self reporting tool put together by Stop AAPI Hate, there were 6,603 hate incident reports from March 19, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

Nearly half of Americans may not be able to name a prominent Asian-American, and 24% may not believe that anti-Asian racism is a problem, but this is not the case for many Democrats in Congress.

On Wednesday, April 14, the Senate passed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which seeks to efficiently track anti-Asian hate crimes, train law enforcement to better identify anti-Asian racism and designate an official in the Justice Department to examine and speed up pandemic-related hate crime reports and more.

The House is expected to give final passage on Tuesday, May 18, signing it into law.

During a meeting with the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) last week, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about the increase in anti-Asian violence and discrimination.

Weve seen how Asian-American small businesses have been targeted recently in particular because of the COVID virus and what its done in terms of our economy. We have seen how many Asian-American women have been struggling with unemployment, many of whom have been front-line workers. We have seen [how] the Asian-American people in our country have been targeted by vicious expressions of hate, Harris said.

Harris concluded her remarks with a call for unity, saying that harm against anyone is harm against all of us.

Building on this momentum, Harris will serve as the keynote speaker for a virtual event for the AAPI community titled From Victory to Unity on Wednesday, May 19.

The event, which is AAPI Victory Alliances first unity summit, will feature celebrities like Tan France and Simu Liu as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Democratic Sens. Tammy Duckwroth, Mazie Hirono and Cory Booker.

"It's time we call our communities together to discuss strategies for engaging and mobilizing in the future," said Varun Nikore, executive director of the AAPI Victory Alliance.

"Vice President Harris is an inspiration for all of our AAPI children who now know that the sky's the limit and you can be anything in this country that they strive for," Nikore said.

Harris appearance, which comes during AAPI Heritage Month, is the vice presidents latest effort to raise awareness, express solidarity with her fellow Asian-Americans, and build unity that will create change.

Following the Atlanta shooting that led to the deaths of six Korean immigrant women, Harris and President Joe Biden flew to Atlanta to meet with leaders in the community.

"Racism is real in America. And it has always been. Xenophobia is real in America, and always has been. Sexism too," Harris said at the time. "The President and I will not be silent. We will not stand by. We will always speak out against violence, hate crimes and discrimination, wherever and whenever it occurs."

During last weeks meeting, Rep. Judy Chu, chair of CAPAC, told CNN that the group spoke about the rising violence against the AAPI community, voting rights, language access and concerns over the COVID-19 crisis in India.

Harris told the group that she recently spoke with her aunt and uncle who still live there, and said she was worried about them. The Biden administration is facing pressure to share excess vaccine doses with India

Chu and Harris stressed that the vaccines cannot just stay in Delhi, calling for even distribution among the various regions in the worlds second-most populous country.

Chu said that Harris also spoke in-depth about voting rights, highlighting the swell of AAPI voters in Georgia that helped to flip the traditionally Republican state blue for the first time in over 20 years.

"She said we have to go out there and draw the line between our voting rights and the way we impact people's lives for the better, Chu said.

While Harris serves as the highest-ranking Asian-American woman in the country, Asian American and Pacific Islander lawmakers make up just 3% of Congress, according to a Pew Research Center analysis.

Only one Asian-American serves in the President's Cabinet: U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. Last month, the White House also named Erika Moritsugu as AAPI senior liaison as it faced pressure from Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Mazie Hirono for greater AAPI representation within the White House.

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VP Kamala Harris to be keynote speaker at From Victory to Unity, honoring the AAPI community - AL DIA News