President Biden's message to Democrats comes as party debates election outcome

WASHINGTON (TNND) — During his post-election address to the nation Thursday, President Joe Biden tried to inspire optimism as Democrats are still reeling from Vice President Kamala Harris' loss to President-elect Donald Trump.

Biden said Harris "gave her whole heart and effort" to her campaign and that she and her team should be proud. He spoke with her on Wednesday to congratulate her on running a historic campaign.

At a time when the country feels deeply divided, Biden encouraged unity.

You can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t love your neighbor only when you agree," Biden said.

Biden also called Trump to congratulate him on his victory and said he'll work with him on a peaceful transfer of power. Biden invited the president-elect to visit the White House, keeping with a tradition Trump broke in 2020 when he refused to accept the results of that election.

Behind the scenes, there are some Biden allies who are frustrated about the loss because they think Biden could have won if he hadn't felt forced off the ticket.

Other Democratic figures are louder about placing blame on Biden for not dropping out of the race sooner, believing he unintentionally set Harris up to fail as she only had a few months to run a presidential campaign.

Certainly, Kamala Harris in just 100 days was trying to do something that no candidate has ever done and she was pitch-perfect in her execution but by not having the ability of going through a primary and being battle-tested, you know, of course, that comes with risk," Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said.

Swalwell has been quick to call for Democrats to mobilize. "Not. Going. Quietly. You're not either. Let's get loud. And let's get going," he posted on X Wednesday night.

During the first White House press briefing since the election, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was pressed on whether the president has any regrets about his decision to drop out and when he did it.

Here’s the thing, and we can’t, we can’t rewrite history. We have to remember what happened in 2022. 2022 is a perfect example, actually, because when we came out of 2022 midterms, we saw a successful midterms for any new administration in over 60 years and it was because of the president’s policies," Jean-Pierre said.

Ultimately, it was Harris who called the shots in her campaign. Some who worked for her have since come out and publicly said she didn't do enough to separate herself from Biden, like when, in early October, Harris was asked on "The View" if there's anything she would have done differently than Biden over the past four years and she replied,“There is not a thing that comes to mind.”

“That was the statement heard around the world," said Lindy Li, a member of the Harris Campaign National Finance Committee. "Because Americans are dying for a difference, dying for a change from the Biden administration and she needed to go out there and make the case that she wasn’t going to be Biden 2.0, she was going to be Harris.”