By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
This much is true: Joe Biden is really, really old. Absolutely older than I would prefer as President of the United States. He walks slow — sometimes at 60, I do, too — and stumbles over his speech at times or even loses his train of thought while speaking.
He’s also been among the most effective presidents of my lifetime, which goes back to Lyndon Johnson.
Donald Trump is also really, really old. Also, absolutely older than I would prefer as President of the United States. He walks slow, stumbles over his speech at times, invents words, rambles off into non-sensical tirades and lies relentlessly.
Trump was arguably one of the worst presidents, not just of my lifetime, but the entire history of the United States. His mismanagement of COVID killed between 200,000 and 500,000 Americans — based on various studies — he crashed the economy and then overcooked it with massive cash outlays, in case you were wondering about how inflation exploded. He also raised taxes for a number of middle class folks (me included), while slashing taxes for the very rich and corporations, while exploding the budget deficit.
There’s so much more. from January 6 to his Russian-friendly, NATO hostile foreign policy, to yes multiple criminal convictions and pending indictments, but I don’t have all week to list Trump’s shortcomings.
So why then, a push among Democrats to push out their old, but effective president, while Republicans celebrate their aged felon-in-chief?
It’s because Democrats, in general, are great at governing, but suck at politics, messaging and discipline. All while being a bit self-absorbed and whiny.
Granted, it is hard to keep what is essentially a coalition of multiple parties in line. But what we’ve seen lately goes beyond circular firing squads to the Democratic version of a hot dog eating contest, except instead of hot dogs, the contestants are eating grenades.
Should there have been a frank and public discussion of Biden’s age a year ago? Yes, of course. Had that happened and Biden decided to stand down last year, everything would have been fine. But that issue was seemingly litigated when U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, running against Biden in the primary, tried that argument and basically heard crickets.
Now, after one admittedly terrible debate — and if Biden had the cold I suffered through in June, I can really understand why he might have struggled, I was often left light-headed and mentally foggy — there is a movement to try to talk Biden into quitting, again.
Based on vibes or polling (which has been a hot mess this cycle), these largely unnamed members of Congress are demanding changes without really stating which change they want and how it will be accomplished. Do they want Vice President Kamala Harris? If not, are they prepared for the electoral backlash of minority voters, particularly black and women voters, who might sit out election day if they see one of their own disrespected?
And if it is Harris, who generally doesn’t poll much better than Biden and has lower name ID, can a four-month run up to the election be enough time for her to get up to speed? Granted, I think there will be some initial groundswell of support within the party for her, but much of that will erode, I suspect, before Election Day, leaving things much as they are or potentially worse for Democrats.
Worse, should Biden survive this coup attempt (hey, kids, let’s ignore the votes of millions of primary voters), he will come out weakened by friendly fire. Add to that the free pass so much of the Corporate Media is giving Trump (we’ve reached the point where having a massive stroke is preferable to watching the MSNBC daytime lineup), Biden is left in a tough position.
The technical term for this sort stuff in politics is “stupid.”
Look, it makes for great copy, but it is a terrible way to run a political party.
