The New York Times has made it clear it believes the Joe Biden should step aside and let another democrat challenge Donald Trump in the November election. So have a large number of prominent voices in the political world - Thomas Friedman, to name just one. Meanwhile, a whole lot of prominent democrats are lining up to get behind him in his decision (as of the moment, at least) to carry on, including Obama and Nancy Pelosi.
I'm taking a break here for a minute from listening to podcast after podcast in which the world - my part of it, at least - is crying "the sky is falling." By which they mean that Biden lived up to our worst expectations the other night that he is a doddering old man, and unfit to be president any longer. I thought that since I have this forum at my fingertips I'd use it and take a stand. I've decided to come out firmly, unequivocally and clearly in favor - of staying on the fence.
We are in a moment of heightened awareness. It was not lost even on folks who were shocked at Biden's performance how high the stakes are. Nobody is denying that the once simple split between Democrats and Republicans has become cancerous and we are at the brink of turning over our experiment in becoming an ever better democracy to a charlatan who has convinced the uninformed and the greedy that he can solve all their problems. Republicans with integrity once believed that government and regulation should be kept to a minimum and Democrats believed government is necessary to keep wild horses in check. It was a battle between trust in the Administrative State on the one hand and those who believed the market was the best source of control over our economy - and by extension the nation.
It's not that simple anymore. The world has gotten meaner. If that were all there is to the story, we could go on debating the pros and cons of each position ad infinitum, but it isn't. The free marketers have gotten the upper hand and the country is now run by what we lovingly call "the almighty dollar." The rich have gotten obscenely rich and we have a bottom that includes millions living on the street. When hitherto trustworthy politicians like Mitch McConnell talk about tax cuts, what they mean is tax cuts for the rich - and screw all the rest of you.
The economic breakdown into rich and poor has caused no end of fear and uncertainty. And that has led to the very human desire for a big daddy to solve all our problems. Enter "Make America Great Again" and its Pied Piper-in-Chief. Put a Bible in his hand to convince the masses of evangelicals he's proof that God still has his hand in American affairs, and use the money produced by the self-serving among us to elect legislators to pass laws favoring the corporations over the average Joe, and you've got what you need to maintain near total control.
I wonder if we're looking at things all wrong. Is it that we are about to lose our democracy? Or is it that we've already lost it? We have the structure we've built up over the years, including the electoral college - not the majority - to decide who will be president. We've staffed the Supreme Court with business-should-decide Republicans, not neutral or majority-should-decide Democratic justices. If you understand democracy to include the will of the majority, you have your answer to that question.
The cat is out of the bag. Even Republicans are beginning to understand that when Trump speaks he doesn't say what is true, but what serves his best interests. Unfortunately, that seems to be OK with them. He has persuaded a critical mass of Americans that the Administrative State cannot be trusted, that the media can't be trusted, that he and his minions should decide for the rest of us how and where we go from here. And that means we really are at a turning point in November. Just as anyone who took the time to read Mein Kampf in the 1930s would have seen Hitler's intention to kill all the Jews in Europe, anyone who reads the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 will see what is in store if Trump is returned to the Oval Office. Everybody - and I mean everybody - should drop what they're doing and read it now.
And that brings us back to whether Biden's candidacy is the best means of keeping Project 2025 from being put into effect. On the surface, the race is between a self-serving lying cad and an imperfect politician of character and integrity. Not a real choice, you say? Go with the good guy, you say, faults and all? Well yes.
But maybe no.
We have another four and a half months, give or take, to make the decision. From my firm position sitting on the fence, I can't go with Biden and argue the better man should win, because I understand how easy it is to let the perfect become the enemy of the good and that a president (and an administration) should have other features besides integrity.
I recommend everyone listen to the debate put on by Pod Save America the other day. If you don't want to listen to the whole thing, the debate itself begins at about minute 45:25. One reason given for more argument is that it will expose America to the issues, and such exposure can only help the democrats because they vote issues while Republicans vote in lockstep. Another is that Biden fell down the other night as a communicator, but at the job of president he excels - and we should not reduce the entirety of the presidency to the ability to debate. Countering that is that Biden's near collapse at times on the stage reflects weakness, and he must be judged taking that weakness into consideration.
Everything must be taken into consideration. Would voters go for Kamala Harris? Could we get Gavin Newsom to change his stance and accept the nomination? Gretchen Whitmer? Pritzker? Sherrod Brown? What are their chances of winning? Can Americans shrug off Biden's flop the other night and plough on through, drawing on American optimism that the good guys always win in the end?
We've got a lot of work to do.
Stop panicking. Stop the doomsaying.
There's going to be a lot of turbulence, so buckle up.
But get in there and do the work.
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