Biden should worry about angering Eric Adams: Look at the Carter-Koch feud
President Joe Biden and Mayor Eric Adams’ growing feud reflects significant differences in the political realities facing them.
As president, Biden has to manage the increasingly progressive left wing of the Democratic Party — its calls for decriminalization and decarceration, and limiting enforcement of illegal US border crossings.
As mayor, Adams is responsible for preserving order on the streets, and therefore must have tools for dealing with criminal behavior.
He must also find ways to limit the costly inflow of illegal migrants into New York.
Evidence of the feud is manifesting from both sides: Adams is now blasting Biden policies.
He recently flat-out claimed “the president and the White House have failed this city.”
On the Biden side, the president and his team snubbed Adams by taking him off a campaign advisory board.
This dispute is reminiscent of one that took place decades ago between President Jimmy Carter and Mayor Ed Koch.
The underlying reason for that feud was Carter’s Israel policy, but the actions and reactions are similar to the current one.
Koch relentlessly criticized Carter’s Israel policy, and Carter responded with snubs.
In one case, in October 1977, shortly before Koch’s election as mayor, Carter disinvited Koch from a limousine ride with the president.
Snubs did not stop Koch, though.
He continued to criticize Carter and his team and was even friendly to Carter’s 1980 Republican challenger Ronald Reagan when Reagan visited New York on the campaign trail, although he did not break party ranks and officially endorse Reagan.
Carter fumed over Koch’s criticism.
At a 1980 fundraiser, Carter himself complained to Koch that “you have done me more damage than any man in America.”
The feud had real consequences for Carter.
Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy defeated Carter soundly in the 1980 New York primary.
Koch had nominally backed Carter in the race, but he also contributed to Carter’s unpopularity in New York City.
The sensationalist journalist Sy Hersh has reported that Carter received National Security Council transcripts of a call between Koch and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in which the two men strategized over how to beat Carter in the general election.
Even if the story is not true (one never knows with Hersh), it certainly sounds plausible based on the enmity between Koch and Carter.
Carter went on to lose the election to Ronald Reagan, losing New York state in the process.
This history is important, since the current feud could be harmful to Biden’s reelection efforts, both in a potential primary challenge, but also in a general election.
It’s unlikely Adams would endorse any Republican, but his unhappiness with Biden could make it hard for Biden to appeal to moderate voters concerned about illegal immigration.
Furthermore, as one of the nation’s most prominent African-American politicians, Adams’ criticisms of Biden could lead to a decrease in black turnout in 2024, which is always so important to Democratic prospects in general elections.
Finally, Adams’ willingness to criticize Biden from within the Democratic camp could potentially encourage a serious internal challenge to Biden, and the history of presidents facing internal primary challenges is not a good one.
The last five presidents to face a serious primary challenge from within their own party — George H.W. Bush, Carter, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman — failed to become president again.
Democrats recognize the potential problem.
One senior but anonymous Democrat told Axios that “Adams is right to be upset, and I think it’s a massive mistake to be dismissive of him.”
While Adams is unlikely to be as relentless in his criticism of Biden as the flamboyant Koch was, Biden needs to take this internal disagreement seriously.
Carter was unable to manage a minor insurrection from a New York Democratic mayor, and look how things turned out for him.
Tevi Troy, director of the Presidential Leadership Institute at the Bipartisan Policy Center, was a senior White House aide Under President George W. Bush. His latest book is “Fight House: Rivalries in the White House from Truman to Trump.”
