Sgt. Biden's Lonely Hearts Club

Let's play make-believe.  Pretend you're an artists-and-repertoire agent at Capitol Records.  It's the summer of 1967.   The Beatles' latest album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, has been out for a month and it's a huge sales . . . flop.  (I told you, this is make-believe.).  You're under pressure to drop the Beatles from the label despite all of their major artistic and commercial successes beforehand, and there are complaints that the Fabs have gotten long in the tooth and that maybe what Capitol needs is a new artist in their place.  However, many of the Beatles' fans, hearing that the band might be dropped, write letters to Capitol demanding that they remain on the label.  Meanwhile, Capitol has the opportunity to poach an up-and-coming guitarist/singer, Jimi Hendrix, from Reprise after the failure of his latest single despite his well-received performance at the Monterey Pop Festival.  At the same time, Capitol has the opportunity to pick up another act from a minor label - the Peppermint Trolley Company. Capitol can sign either act to replace the Beatles - but not both. Despite a great deal of support for Hendrix, because his sound appeals to the rock audience - the strongest part of the label's customer base - there is also lot of support for the Peppermint Trolley Company, because some label insiders feel that Capitol needs a sunshine pop group to compete with Spanky and Our Gang at Mercury Records for middle-of-the-road record buyers. Or, the label can take another chance on the Beatles, who have indicated that they'll break up if they're dropped from their label in America. With Brian Wilson already causing problems for Capitol with the aborted recording sessions for the Beach Boys' Smile, the wrong decision could destroy the record company. It's your decision to make, and you don't know what to do. 

Well, except for the names and a few other changes, if you talk about the Democrats, it's the same situation.  Despite his past successes, President Biden is tanking right now and the Democratic Party is under pressure to drop him.  The party can either keep Biden at the top of the ticket or choose between two alternatives - Kamala Harris, who appeals to the party's black and/or female base, or an unknown generic candidate - say, a young governor - that many Democrats feel is what they need to compete with MAGA for middle-of-the-road independent voters.  All three choices carry risks, but without knowing what the future holds, there's at least a 67 percent chance of success, as there are two out of three paths that will lead to a Democratic victory in November.  But one of those choices is the wrong choice, and, bearing in mind that the down-ballot elections are threatened, if the Democrats make that choice, the party - and the country - will be destroyed.  But no one knows which door is the dreaded Door Number Three.  

I believe you already know what I think.  I'm convinced that naming a Josh Shapiro or a Wes Moore as the Democratic presidential nominee instead of Biden or Harris would be the political equivalent of Capitol dropping the Beatles and eschewing Jimi Hendrix for the Peppermint Trolley Company.

The Peppermint Trolley Company, by the way, was a real group.  They were the group that sang the theme song for "The Brady Bunch" in the opening titles for that sitcom's first season, only to be dropped thereafter when it became apparent that sunshine pop was a passing fancy.

Just like Josh Shapiro.