Going to abandon my usual policy of sticking to Vermont politics. Perhaps I can be permitted an exception for one of the most consequential events in our nation’s history — the decision of President Joe Biden to abandon his bid for re-election.

When Sen. Peter Welch came out in favor of Biden’s withdrawal on July 10, I wrote that he had better know what he’s doing. In the wake of Biden’s decision, that sentiment now applies to everyone in Democratic Party circles, up to and including the President himself. They’d damn well better know what they’re doing. And they’d damn well better not screw this up, which seems to be the default setting for the Democrats going all the way back (at least) to 1968, when I was a teenager staring down the barrel of the Vietnam War and the party tore itself apart. And still nearly won the election. (Probably should have, if not for Richard Nixon making back-door deals with South Vietnamese leadership. As reported in Garrett Graff’s Watergate.)

1968 was the last time a sitting Democratic President voluntarily relinquished the position. I’m not drawing comparisons beyond that, because the circumstances were wildly different. They were, in fact, much more fraught, much direr, than the current situation. And yes, the Democrats nearly won that election.

I am saying that the process of choosing Biden’s replacement has got to be cleaner than the trainwreck that happened after LBJ’s withdrawal, or the Dems risk handing control of the country to Donald Trump.

So, my hopes. First, I hope that Biden’s decision was truly his own — that he came to believe that he might not be capable of seeing the campaign through. Second, I hope that the Democratic Party will take the shortest, clearest possible path to a new nominee. Which leads to my next hope: That his replacement will be Vice President Kamala Harris and no one else. As I wrote before, bypassing Harris is a recipe for disaster. There’s not going to be quick consensus around any other figure. Replacing Harris with a white person would imperil the Black vote, one of the cornerstones of the party.

And above all else, she was Biden’s choice for veep and she’s Biden’s choice as a successor now. He deserves a heapin’ helpin’ of deference on this. Also, say what you will about his policies, but Joe Biden knows politics as well as anyone on this planet. He must see potential greatness in the person he chose as his running mate.

On this, I’m with U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, who has already endorsed Harris, and I’m not at all with Welch, who seems to think the Democrats can put together a thorough, transparent, nationwide, inclusive replacement process in the less than a month that remains until the Democratic National Convention. “I am endorsing an opportunity for rank and file Democrats to be involved,” Welch told Vermont Public.

Yeah, right. How’s that going to look? Snap primaries in all 50 states? With no time for anyone to build a campaign or make a case to tens of millions of Democratic voters? Will the DNC convene focus groups? Maybe I have a limited imagination, but I can’t see how the party can concoct a convincingly open and fair process in the time that remains.

What I could see is a process that’s open to top leaders and donors, gussied up with “rank and file” window dressing. That way lies madness, and electoral defeat.

I frame my views as “hopes” because — I’ll say it again — I have no idea what’s really happening, and neither do you. There’s no way I can assess Biden’s fitness. I have no insight on the process that led to his withdrawal. We do not know what kind of candidate Harris will be. After the events of the past week, it ought to be painfully obvious to everyone that there’s no predicting the future of this campaign.