I’m trying to hold myself in check, be a wise old fellah rather than a hotspur young ‘un. The wise old fellah, who is a foreign policy wonk, negotiated through the weeds of Joe Biden’s verbiage and saw an admirable—and yes, nuanced— and informed foreign policy wise man. I’ve felt that way about Biden for 20 years, since he advised against the “surge” in Afghanistan and wanted Obama to draw down…and leave, with special ops forces still active and lethal, in 2009.
But we are not electing a foreign policy wise man. We are electing a President. And if you are an American citizen watching this, you saw an elderly man wandering through subtleties you could not possibly understand.
Worse, the media—foolish as always, in their headlines—are telling low-info voters that Biden called Kamala Harris, Vice President Trump…and Vladimir Zelensky, President Putin. Those slips mean nothing. The media emphasis on that crap makes me embarrassed by my former profession.
But, Joe. Oh, Joe. My heart goes out. He did the best he could—as he promised to Stephanopoulos—but he seemed a very old man, unable to communicate his nuanced ideas to an electorate that doesn’t want the Orange miscreant, but wants to vote for someone who seems vital and vigorous…and clear, someone who doesn’t stumble every other sentence.
Here is Sarah Longwell, ever admirable, on the pre-press conference stage of play:
There’s another thread that’s emerging: voters comparing Joe Biden to their aging relatives who won’t give up their car keys. That’s not an analogy you want to hear with democracy on the line. On Wednesday, these comparisons were more common than ever among the voters I talked to—a group made up of those who cast ballots for Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020 but were now undecided.”
Said one focus group participant: “I’ve seen firsthand how difficult it is to get, you know, mom’s driver’s license or aging parents’ license away from them. What does that look like when it’s the president of the United States?”
“This is fundamental to understanding voters’ fears about Biden’s age. They are disinclined to give him the benefit of the doubt because many have seen this all before. They don’t want their octogenarian father (or grandfather) running the country, let alone driving a car.
I was one who had to steal my father’s car keys. He screamed, he said terrible things. He died of dementia, as my mom—whom he’d met in kindergarten—did a few weeks earlier. I had to make the decision to pull the plug on both of them. I’m not sure I’ve recovered from it yet, but I know I did the right thing. I gave my mom her last meal, several teaspoons of chocolate ice cream, hours before she died. I was holding my dad’s hand when he left us. In the past few weeks, Joe Biden has brought all these memories rushing back.
I always saw Joe Biden as a peer—we talked about our working-class moms; he called me when my mom died—but he seems more like a member of an older generation than a contemporary now. I think about the steps I lose, the miles I drive more carefully than I used to, the mental acuity that I struggle to hold onto—in large part, by writing my 50 years of experience to you each week—and Joe has made me too entirely conscious of my age for comfort.
But writing is easier than talking. If I were to say Vice President Trump, I would catch it on rereading—as Biden did tonight after he called Zelensky, Putin—and I can, I hope, seem clever and together in this space. Biden doesn’t have that luxury—but that is the arena he has chosen to perform in.
And in that arena, we need someone sharp and fast and devastating to take on the worst human being—and I’ve some real killers—I’ve ever met.
I hope Kamala can do it. It’s probably too late for anyone else. But I feel so sad about Joe Biden, so sad.
Joe—Terrific piece. I want Joe to step aside because I believe he has little to no chance of beating Trump—-which is the only thing that matters in this election. Any alternate scenario has risks, but not as great as a Biden v. Trump rematch. Our democracy, and all it entails, are the stake. Period. I also reacted emotionally to the ‘taking the keys away” from mentally failing parents. I had to do it with my dad, and versions of it happened with Shari’s folks. It is a heart-rendering passage—for them and for those voicing—and enforcing—the request (as my kids will learn someday, damn it!). Interestingly, I have had this conversation with virtually every friend I have talked to in the past two weeks. It is the dominant topic in any discussion about Joe Biden’s situation and future.
As I’ve said,before, I hate it but I agree. There was a way to do this with Biden leaving with all the honor he deserves. If he waits very much that chance will go by. If he waits even longer he will get to,see Trump take over, humiliate him, and undo everything he and we ever worked for. That’s the cross roads we are at.