Joe Biden is not demented or senile or any of the other lovely adjectives many nervous Democrats and Never Trump Republicans have been using to describe him.
What Pres Biden is – is 81 years old.
You get older and your voice gets hoarse, you sometimes jumble words (Note: Especially when you have a stutter) and on really bad days, you lose your train of thought.
This happens a lot more when you have a cold, you’ve been flying a lot or when you are tired and haven’t gotten enough sleep.
It’s not as if someone demented and senile can suddenly get up before a crowd of thousands, as he did the next day, and magically become coherent and charismatic. I had a father who died last year at the age of 94. Trust me, it just doesn’t happen.
Do doubters have a right to have a conversation, voice their opinions on his performance on Thursday night and be especially concerned since he’s running against an extremely dangerous, constantly lying, racist, cretinous aspiring dictator, multi-convicted felon like Donald Trump?
Certainly. Of course.
But my God.
And I’m not even religious.
If you simply go by the facts, this POTUS has been one of the most successful presidents in the modern era. He led us out of COVID and got us vaccinated, created more jobs than any of our other leaders in recent memory and presided over what is arguably THE best economy in the world post COVID, not to mention the envy of the world.
Ask Canada and Great Britain.
Yes, there’s inflation and eggs are too expensive. I don’t like it and neither should you. But a big part of that is the sheer greed of corporations and billionaires determined to raise prices to offset even a tiny dent in their record profits.
They don’t like it that there is some modicum of environmental standards put back in place or the slightest increase of taxes they are required to pay to the country that has enabled them to grow their record profits for decades. So they are passing it off to Y.O.U.
I refuse to write any more about how Trump will dismantle democracy and threaten peace in the world by dismantling NATO. Or how he clearly looks down on anyone who is not rich and who is non-white (Note: What exactly are “black” jobs?). Or how he will use the right for women to control their bodies in order to regain the White House and further pack the Supreme Court with conservatives in order to stay out of jail.
You all get that.
The question is how we proceed.
Be clear. President Biden is THE nominee of the Democratic Party. He is not getting out of the race, nor should he.
And if every nervous nellie got their way and the party ran scared, what do you think would happen? Traditional wisdom tells us Kamala Harris, our sitting vice-president, would be our nominee.
I think she’s great but do you think this will satisfy the doubters?
No. They hate her poll numbers, which are far below those of Biden.
So instead a lot of people are playing fantasy football with names like Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, Josh Stein, Raphael Warnock, Pete Buttigieg and…Michelle Obama?
Seriously????? Michelle HATES politics, almost as much as she loathes Trump.
And what do you think every non-white Democratic voter would do if the only Black female vice-president in history, who previously was an effective senator from a state that has the fifth largest economy in the WORLD (Note: California, for those who like pop quizzes), was denied the nomination from their party?
They’d walk and it would be justified. Not to mention many white voters, who’d find that scenario at best panic-driven or undesirable and at worst despicable and misogynistic.
So please. I beg of everyone.
Stay with Biden and give this a chance.
I get the concern. But remember how he became the nominee, and in turn president, in the first place. He was the ONLY candidate we could all agree on. He might not have been many or most people’s first or second choice but he had the experience and nose to the grindstone ability to dig us out of the awful ditch the “orange turd” (Note: The term used by Stormy Daniels – the woman Trump said he NEVER HAD SEX WITH straight to your face on the debate stage) gave us.
Biden is factually correct about almost everything he said on that semi-disaster of a debate stage with ZERO fact checking from CNN. Trump was almost 100% aggressively wrong. Optics are important but they are not the sole reason to make a decision.
Most minds were not much changed either way in early focus groups post-debate. And if we all work together with Pres. Biden and all those who loathe and detest Trump and love democracy, the Democratic Party can win not only the White House but BOTH houses of Congress.
Not to mention gain a few seats on the U.S. Supreme Court.
I grew up the son of a bookie so I know in my bones that NOTHING is a sure thing. Perhaps that is why I’m more comfortable with risk and playing the odds. But here’s what I’ve learned after many decades of living:
All of life is risk with ZERO guarantees. Every choice has consequences. Including the choice to do nothing, sit out an election or vote third party, and deny the reality:
There are only TWO people who will win the U.S. presidency by the end of 2024.
Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
Make YOUR choice while you still have A choice.
To do anything.
And after you do watch season three of FX’s The Bear on Hulu. It’s brilliantly done and will get you thinking about choices and other existential questions in life far better than I can.
The Bear – Season 3 Trailer – AKA the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election Metaphor
notes from a chair 