It’s not a gold star
Sigh. This is just dense. Thick. Dumb. Uncomprehending. Point-missing. Reality-ignoring.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday said abandoning his reelection campaign and endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris, as the Democratic candidate was the best way to unite the country and save democracy, despite his ambition to win a second term.
Biden’s announcement to end his presidential bid on Sunday followed a disastrous June debate with Donald Trump, which exacerbated questions about his ability to defeat the Republican candidate, or to serve another four years if he succeeded.
In his address to the nation from the Oval Office, the 81-year-old president said he believed he deserved to be reelected based on his record during his first term.
!!!
Dude. The whole problem is that you are progressively losing your faculties. It’s a time thing. Your first term is wholly beside the point because it’s over, and time is continuing to pass, and you’re not as sharp as you were four years ago, or three, or two, or one. I’m sorry to say that but it’s true. It can happen to anyone. First term was then and this is now. It’s not about what you “deserve”; it’s about what everyone needs.
The vanity is not attractive. Sorry.
That same loss of faculties makes people in his position unable to cope with their limitations. One can only hope that they don’t go out like him; scares me a bit, certainly.
I’m not sure that he could have said anything about being too old or having difficulties, at least not right now, given the political situation. “Unite the country” or “pass the torch” or similar language seems less inclined to have repercussions for the election.
Is there any chance Biden actually wrote that speech? My assumption was that he merely delivered it. So who really thought that his first term justified a second?
In a younger person, such as Obama, the idea that a successful first term justified giving him a second is a valid argument. Obama also got older during his first term, but he started out young enough that he wasn’t risking senility, barring some neurological disorder. If you are nearly 80 when you start, you are likely to have much more mental faculty loss, since by that time it is moving much quicker.
Reagan couldn’t see his loss, but a lot of people could. Trump can’t see that he is getting senile, but a lot of people can. I’m not surprised Biden wouldn’t be able to; he had more intellect than either of them to start with, so the loss is more noticeable, and probably more devastating to him.
That being said, whoever writes his speeches or press releases should know better.
Whoever wrote the speech, it’s Biden’s responsibility to read it and change anything he doesn’t agree with.
I think you’re all being really harsh here.
First, Biden just did an incredibly hard thing. Yes, it was the right thing to do, for his party and the country. Yes, you could say that he was morally obligated to do it. But there are a lot of things that people should do that are really hard to do on a personal level, and a lot of people fail that test. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for one.
Joe Biden spent decades of his life dreaming of being president one day. He gets there, and does a good job, and now he’s being asked to do something that no incumbent president has done since LBJ? And unlike LBJ, who had a mixed record as president — many great accomplishments, but also the escalation in Vietnam — Biden’s actual record as president is quite good and he doesn’t get enough credit for it. It probably doesn’t seem fair to him, and you know what, it probably isn’t in some sense. It wasn’t fair that his first wife and his daughter died in a car crash and he was a single father as a young senator. It wasn’t fair that his son Beau died young. I’ll leave out Hunter because we can argue what responsibility Joe has for how he turned out, but suffice it to say he’s had his share of personal tragedy.
And now you all want to begrudge him a bit of pride in a gracious speech confirming a pretty grand gesture of statemanship? It just strikes me as so, so petty.
Second, bragging about his record and how ordinarily that would merit a second term isn’t just personal pride. Joe Biden bragging about his record is good for Kamala Harris, and therefore the Democratic Party and the country. Harris is going to spend this campaign bragging about Biden’s presidency and running on his record.
Here, here Screechy. We can all agree it was time for him to go, but come on. There’s a whiff of circular firing squad among too many liberals.
I don’t think a speech like that leaves anyone doubting Biden’s integrity. I find it remarkable in this day and age that, as Screechy points out, despite the limitations and significant setbacks in his life, he has held on to his ideals. There aren’t many politicians out there who can honestly say that. How many are corrupt to start with, or become corrupt in office? My one criticism of the speech would be all the god damned flag waving, but that’s to be expected I suppose, and I don’t think the current administration is “saving democracy” — a good democratic system is self righting and it will save itself, not by a few elected or appointed officials, but by all those who are dedicated to uphold it’s principles — and aren’t the vast majority of US citizens patriots in that regard? Jeez.
If Harris can carry the best aspects of Biden’s presidency forward, then there’s a pretty good chance things will work out. I’ve been critical of her acquiescence to the trans cult, and this bothers me because, well we all know why this is bad. Maybe giving a nod is acceptable, but it’s going to put a lot of people off if it’s revealed that she’s entrenched in the ideology and not just adding pronouns to her twitter bio for S’s and G’s.
Fair enough. I don’t agree, but I see your point.
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