Q. What do you call Hamas murdering six hostages, including an American?
A. A political "headache" for Biden-Harris.
That's according to CNN regular Toluse Olorunnipa, also the Washington Post's chief White House correspondent. Olorunnipa won a Pulitzer Prize as co-author of His Name is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice.
To be realistic: politics play a role in virtually every decision that presidents of all parties make. But it struck an unseemly note for Olorunnipa to twice describe the recent murder of the six hostages as a "political headache" for Biden-Harris, endangering Kamala's ability to claim the mantle of Commander-in-Chief.
OLORUNNIPA: They are going to try to push both sides towards inching towards this ceasefire in a more significant way. In part because they don't want any more hostages to die, and in part because they realize that this is a political headache.
In part because they realize that having Americans die overseas is one of the most challenging things that a president or a vice president or a presidential candidate could face while in office. And so this is obviously a tragedy, but it's also a major political headache for the Biden White House. And so they are scrambling, trying to figure out how to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible.
Republican strategist Matt Gorman offered a take as blunt as it was true: "The easiest way for this to stop is have Hamas stop killing the hostages." He wondered whether we will see "some more of those protests, riots, antisemitic demonstrations we saw in the spring, in the shadow of election day, while people are early voting?"
Let's try to imagine that scene in the Situation Room today: Biden's handlers decide to just let him doze in the corner, as Kamala muses over the meaning of the passage of time in Israel and Gaza.
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
9/2/24
6:09 am EDTTOLUSE OLORUNNIPA: Well, this is a sea-change moment. This long-awaited ceasefire has been negotiated for a very long time. President Biden has been saying it's close for a very long time. But now we see the death of an American, the death of five other hostages, and it's very clear that something has to change.
That's part of the reason you see President Biden and Vice President Harris having this impromptu meeting at the Situation Room today. They are going to try to push both sides towards inching towards this ceasefire in a more significant way. In part because they don't want any more hostages to die, and in part because they realize that this is a political headache.
In part because they realize that having Americans die overseas is one of the most challenging things that a president or a vice president or a presidential candidate could face while in office. And so this is obviously a tragedy, but it's also a major political headache for the Biden White House. And so they are scrambling, trying to figure out how to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible. They are seeing these protests happening in Israel, and they know that there's a major groundswell under foot to try to get the Israeli government to move towards a ceasefire. They know that there's a lot of anger at Hamas right now. They know that a ceasefire may be harder to get after the deaths of these hostages.
But it's important to get something that would release the remaining hostages, including a number of Americans who, if those Americans are to be killed in the coming days would make it much harder for Vice President Harris to say that she should be the Commander-in-chief for another four years.
. . .
MATT GORMAN: The choice really here isn't ceasefire or, you know -- The easiest way for this to stop is have Hamas stop killing the hostages. I mean, that is the simplest way for this to happen. The choice isn't a ceasefire or Hamas to kill these people. I think that is kind of the false binary choice here. They, Hamas, has to stop killing hostages. It's the surest way for hostages to stop dying.
That's number one. Number two is one of things I'm looking for, especially now as college students are coming back on campus, weather's getting a little warmer [sic] and we're approaching, obviously, not just, you know, this terrible moment, but October 7th, the one-year anniversary.
Do we see some more of those protests, riots, antisemitic demonstrations we saw in the spring, in the shadow of election day, while people are early voting? What does that do to the presidential campaign stateside as well?
