I am Sorry Biden Dropped Out, But Not for The Reason You Might Think
Voters Should Have Had an Opportunity to Judge the Biden Presidency, Now it Will Be Left to the Historians. Have You Ever Met a Conservative or Even Sensible Historian?
Imagine if Herbert Hoover didn’t run for reelection in 1932, or Jimmy Carter chose not to run in 1980. Sure, they would have avoided their justly deserved humiliating landslides, and possibly limit the electoral devastation to their party, but they would have cheated the voters of the right to make a statement on their Presidencies. Part of a healthy Democracy includes landslide defeats. A bloodbath at the polls is a nonviolent version of Jefferson’s line the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and the blood of tyrants.
Hoover and Carter’s deserved landslides are a valuable addition to our country’s historical record. Sure, they probably would have been judged as failed Presidents anyway, but their landslide defeats prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Beyond the spinning of the historians and University professors.
Of course I was not alive in 1932, but I can imagine millions of Americans took a great deal of pleasure, a sense of patriotism, indeed felt a sense of pride at the fact that they were administering justice by going to the polls and voting against Hoover. I know in 1980, my parents both still Democrats at time, they became Reagan Democrats later, took great pleasure in voting against Carter. They probably impatiently waited for election day (just one day back then) for the thrill of going up to their polling precinct and voting Carter out.
The defeat cemented as a fact that Carter was a failed President. A fact that no one could dispute. So, when my teachers in the 80’s and professors in the 90’s claimed Jimmy Carter was a good President, I asked, “How could that be true if he lost 44 states in 1980.” That was solid proof, how could a lefty professor counter that? They couldn’t.
Joe Biden is every bit as bad as Carter and Hoover, no doubt in my mind that Biden has done as much harm to our country as either one of those gentlemen. And unlike Carter and Hoover, Biden used his time in public service to get rich and enrich his family. In terms of damage, Biden allowed an invasion into our country, fostered economic policies that ignited inflation, and through a disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal and an incompetent press conference encouraged Putin to invade the Ukraine. Biden ignored Congress and the Supreme Court by unconstitutionally writing off billions of dollars in student debt among other horrible things.
So, it was a great disappointment that I learned today the Joe was dropping his bid for the Democrat Presidential nomination. I wanted Biden to be the Democrat nominee, not just because he’d be easy to beat, but more because by beating him we send a message. His reelection campaign would allow Americans to pronounce a verdict for the historical record.
I do think it is ironic that Democrats claim to be concerned about “Democracy” while they ignore the 14 million people that voted to nominate Biden. Biden had a right to his party’s nomination; the American people have a right to vote for or against him. Indeed, the old geezer earned it!
Last weekend Biden said he has decided to stay in the race, and on Monday morning Nancy Pelosi said he is “still deciding”. That is Joe has yet to decide he needed to exit. And according to Pelosi until he makes that decision he is still deciding. Oh, how sad. The completely emasculated Biden finally gave in.
It is not so much that Harris is a better candidate, it is rather that Biden has become unelectable. Kamala is not unelectable, but that is not saying much for her chances. Her disapproval rating is about as low as Joe’s, and over the last 4 years the White House tried to hide her as much as Joe, and for good reasons. And she is part of this administration. The dumpster fire that is the Biden presidency is inextricably linked to her. She owns it, and she doesn’t have the benefits of incumbency. She will be running as a Vice President in an unpopular executive branch.
But she seems at least compos mentis, which is more than we can say for Biden. And her famous phrase, “What can be unburden by what has been”, isn’t proof of her mental impairment, rather it is kind of Kenndyesque. What was brother Bobby’s line, “Some men see things as they are and ask why, I dream things that never were and ask why not.” She may bring her version of the Kennedy like magic, call it Kamalalot.
It will be nice to defeat Harris, but it would be more satisfying to defeat Biden. Nothing would reaffirm Democracy like Biden getting defeated in a landslide.
David Shephard is the Author of a new book, “Norton’s Choice; An Inside Politics Expose.”