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by Kevin Ellis
The president of the United States has caused a panic within the Democratic Party. His debate performance, which you have probably heard about and hopefully watched, has created a frantic cultural/political conversation about whether he should step aside and allow someone younger to face Donald Trump.
Anyone with a parent over the age of 80 knows Biden’s debate performance was not one bad night. It was a sign of many. The president can barely make it through an interview unscathed.
Most of the people I speak with tell me Biden should step aside. Democratic Party stalwarts like James Carville from the Bill Clinton era also say he should and will step aside. They argue that it’s now a moral question. The good of the country is at stake, and Biden’s age is endangering us all.
But Biden – a man seared by personal tragedy – has refused to step down.
He told donors and members of Congress he is not going anywhere. The last few days have shown him more lucid and articulate. He called into a liberal cable TV show and sounded fine—irritated at all the commotion and focused on Trump and the danger he poses to the country.
All this begs the question: why is he hanging on?
I believe that Biden is trapped. He is trapped by ego, history, and those around him. Like many politicians, he is intensely stubborn and believes only he can fix what ails the country. He wants to fight on, so his staff—loyal and respectful—back him. They blame the media and the rest of us for even having this debate. And they blame us for shifting the attention away from the threat of Donald Trump to democracy.
As I’ve said before, only Biden can change the race. He has the delegates and infrastructure. No one can take the nomination from him. Clearly, no one in Biden’s family or campaign is telling him to step aside. They are all engaged in the kind of self-delusion that plagues many politicians, including, most famously, Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Clinton had just finished a successful run as secretary of state under President Obama. She had grandchildren. She should have left the political scene. But she insisted on running, losing to Trump, and saddling us with his threat to democracy all these years later. She refused to leave the stage, and now Biden—who should never have run for reelection—is doing the same. The Democratic bench is packed with talent, but this older generation refuses to give way.
But sometimes, the American people tell you what to do. That’s the way we’re supposed to do it in this country. Biden must give way for the good of the country. And it shouldn’t be this hard. He’s not trapped. He can exit the stage to a professorship, a presidential library, and the genuine thanks of a grateful nation for his decades of public service and a very successful presidency.
To help illuminate the path to a respectful withdrawal, I planned to write a mock speech for President Biden. It would endorse his vice president, Kamala Harris, to fill out his term, and articulate a vision for the next generation of political leadership this country badly needs.
But the great James Fallows beat me to it.
James Fallows is one of the country’s great writers and journalists. I have followed him closely for decades. He was President Jimmy Carter’s chief speechwriter but resigned when he felt Carter had lost the idealism of his campaign promises. Since then, he has written expert books and articles about everything from reforming the Pentagon and the airline industry to how the news media actually functions. He is not flashy, but he writes with depth and thought—every time.
In the farewell speech, Fallows gives the president the way out, reminding us that George Washington did the same. At the end of his second term, Washington left the presidency rather than give in to his colleagues’ requests to run again. He thought a third term would undermine the new country’s desire not to anoint a King. After all, we had fought a war on this issue.
Give Fallows’ speech a read, and let me know what you think.
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Categories: Commentary, Elections, National News
Link to speech? or did I miss something.
Of all the things that Biden accuses Trump of…and is himself guilty of, to a greater degree…the most glaring accusation he maintains is that Trump is an egomaniac. In full recognition of Biden’s cognitive deficiencies and inability to interpret reality, he is himself displaying unmitigated egotistical behavior by insisting that he is fit for office and up for the re-election campaign.
Exactly Rich, you hit the nail on the head!!
Hubris, ego, megalomania- by whatever term you choose to call it, biden is the textbook example- exacerbated by whatever form of dementia he is afflicted with.
dr. (phd, not md) Jill and son hunter are similarly afflicted by this sociopathic behavior. None of the biden family is conflicted, they are world class grifters intent on satisfaction of their own needs for power and wealth, ignorant of anything else.
As dr.jill and hunter negotiate the exit terms for sleepy joe- the US citizen and taxpayer is paying a mighty cost for the actions of this group of incompetent grifters.
…I never imagined feeling that way but now I am 100% for Joe…staying in the race that is.
One correction: It was Clinton’s reaction to her loss (and her tactics to try to win, eg, the Steele dossier), establishing a fantasy narrative that continues to this day, that has been a threat to democracy.
I read the ‘speech’ about Biden withdrawing. I agree he should, but I do not agree his four years were productive for the American people. Inflation, border crisis, crime , two wars, depleting our strategic reserves, and DEI that does not award merit. Hope to see him go- he has made enough money from being in political office these many years and his lapses are scary
WHAT??? “very successful presidency” when you’re successful at something they don’t try to force you out!!! They want you to stay!! This didn’t happen overnight, so who’s the stupid ones that ignored all the signs?
So right. And what exactly is the “threat of Donald Trump to democracy”?
A thriving economy? Historic foreign peace negotiations with former adversaries? Secure borders? An awakening to the left’s two-tiered justice system, the corruption of our intelligence agencies and their collusion with big pharma, mainstream media, and the new world order agenda by the UN/WEF/WHO, etc.?
Since then, through Biden and his handlers we’ve seen the left turn the heat up full blast with their massive tax increases, government expansion, divisive BLM/DEI and socialist policies. No thanks. It’s almost as if they are having to hurry up and complete their surveillance state and central bank digital currency before too many people wake up and derail their next plannedemic lockdown and jab mandates: https://leohohmann.substack.com/p/international-bird-flu-summit-to?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=787967&post_id=146444233&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=j1wdo&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
The democratic bench is packed with talent????? Like who? It is packed with Communists. It is packed with Marxists, leftists, and race baiters.
And while free speech is critical and all are entitled to it, often I wonder what paper I’m reading in VDC.
It intentionally incites and divides, is full of sexist comments (Hillary shouldn’t have run because she had grandchildren????), it provides conflicting and unsubstantiated facts at times…..
Biden shouldn’t be running not because of his age, but because of his inability. But just to prove I’m no sexist myself, I’m going to suggest that he shouldnt have run to begin with because he had grandchildren.
Seven in fact, I believe, to be accurate.
Joe Biden “exit the stage to a professorship?”
What delusion does the author live under, or is this a satire piece?
And to even include Joe Biden in the same sentence with George Washington, as if there could ever be one iota of comparison between them, is equally delusional.
I know, I know, btw…..one should never, ever criticize or critique VDC.
That sentiment alone is as scary or even scarier than watching aa entire hour of MSNBC without a gun to one’s head.
And that type of sentiment is exactly how we find ourselves in this very predicament in the USA – blind allegiance to party or news source —- topped off by the inability or refusal to think critically or independently.
Sorry, no matter what your political preference – there is NO news source extant than one should trust without reservation & the fact that this article is both fanciful and contains sexism is indisputable.
Kevin, why all the panic?? Most conservatives have known for years Biden is compromised, physically, mentally and politically. The panic is because most good Democrat followers have been lied to by you and the MSM for years. You helped create this problem, please just be honest for once. Having grown up in the Philly area I know all about Joe. This should be no surprise to anyone who is willing to listen to all sides.
Slow Joe can exit the stage, but with the genuine thanks of a grateful nation for his decades of public service, and a very successful presidency”? I respect anyone’s right to an opinion, but I guess Mr.Ellis’s definition of a “successful presidency” differs from mine. Joe Biden is now, and always has been a grifter, bound only to his own ambitions. “A very successful presidency ?” He tanked our economy, opened the borders to millions of illegal migrants, got thirteen young servicemen, and women killed, and untold others injured in an evacuation that could/should have been executed without a casualty. Biden fiddled while Putin threatened, then set about burning Ukraine. He proposes to put us all in electric vehicles, whether we want one or not, pushes the “Green New Deal” to the point of bankrupting the citizens, he weaponized the DOJ, and handcuffed Israel in the defense of itself. Still, he can exit the stage to a professorship, and a presidential library ? I wonder how many of those documents in his library came out of the garage in Delaware ? To me, that doesn’t seem fair. Nuff said !
The Biden Crime Family is negotiating its terms for the golden parachute, the Beau Biden Foundation, and its funding mechanisms in perpetuity. Simple as that. Oh yes, and absolution for its crimes.
If anything, the GOP is primed to strike gold and win bigly in the down races if they can muster enough guts and courage to do so….Cory Bush is under investigation for fraud by the way…the shameless grifters are about to get what is truly due to all of them…buckle up!
From the pan to the fire… the move is on to replace Biden with Kamala Harris. It has been proclaimed by NPR with this morning’s recasting of Harris’s exemplary character and demonstrable capabilities. But clearly, this empress has no clothes either.