North Star Statement on the Biden Transition – July 23, 2024

NORTH STAR STEERING COMMITTEE STATEMENT ON BIDEN AND WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek re-election resets the dynamics of the 2024 Presidential election but does not change the basic task of socialists and progressives.  
The Biden administration made many positive contributions to the U.S., rebuilding from the economic decline of the Trump Administration, and providing more support for workers and their ability to organize than any administration in the past half century. We commend President Biden for rescuing the nation from Trump’s failure to provide an adequate and timely response to the Covid crisis.  We support Biden’s positive responses to the climate crisis and thank him for his service in difficult times. 
President Biden has also failed in significant ways.  His weak resistance to the brutal Israeli attack on the people of Gaza and continuing supply of military support to Israel is contrary to international law and must be denounced.  His immigration policies have been repressive and he has been unable to enact reforms on immigration and student debt collection due to Republican stonewalling.
What hasn’t changed is our primary task: the defeat of Donald Trump and the fascist threat he represents in 2024, embodied in the Project 2025 document.  Success in defeating this threat demands solidarity among all forces opposed to Trump’s election.  DSA should place itself squarely in the ranks of the gathering pro-democracy front and discard the ultra-left positions voiced in the NPC’s initial pronouncement on President Biden’s withdrawal from candidacy.
The North Star Caucus Steering Committee stands ready to unite with all DSA members who recognize this historic opportunity to unite with the pro-democracy forces.  We are committed to electing progressives and defeating reactionary measures at all levels of government on November 5th.

• Bill Barclay and Barbara Joye, co-chairs, Steering Committee, North Star Caucus for Socialism and Democracy