In the January Observer, I observed that “Democrats need a dose of reality” and that Joe Biden’s age would prove to be a disastrous distraction to American hopes of stopping a Trumpista fascist overthrow of our republic.
His Debacle Debate has proven me right. Damn!
Voter disapproval of the president’s performance shows no sign of letting up. Respected Democrats have urged Biden to step aside – some privately, others publicly. Yet, the president continues to put his ego ahead of the good of the country.
Mr. President, would you prefer another Democrat winning the presidency or Donald Trump dismantling the government?
Bidenomics continues to succeed despite the greedflation of corporations – who would be given licenses to price gouge, steal from us and poison the environment in a second Trump term.
It takes a big government to combat billion-dollar businesses. The abolition of regulators that Republicans advocate would pit individuals against those behemoths – with a corrupted Supreme Court waiting in the wings to rubber stamp corporate calumny should any person manage to get a case that far up the judicial ladder.
Protecting the general welfare of every American is more important than assuaging one man’s ego. You have served us well, Joe. It is time to step off the stage.
In January – when we would have six months to delineate issues beside age – I mistakenly described Vice President Kamala Harris as invisible and lacking charisma.
The invisibility – aside from her multi-racial heritage that would incite the too-many racists among us – persists. The perceived lack of charisma results from her three and a half year absence from the public arena.
I have seen Harris interviewed. The Veep is smart, quick, well-informed, very human. We must conclude that keeping her in the shadows was the call of Biden’s advisors. Perhaps they were afraid of the obvious contrast in vibrancy between her and the president.
Whatever, they certainly wasted an obvious asset. In doing so, they have hamstrung Harris as the obvious choice to replace the president at the top of the ticket.
Biden is correct in reminding us of his father’s injunction: “Don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.” Right now the alternatives are a republic or a dictatorship.
Unfortunately, many Republicans have tired of popular rule. The job for Democrats is to get people who believe in our democratic republic to the polls.
Many people who see the dangers Trump represents are considering not voting to protest our disastrous Middle East policy. Biden’s complicity in Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Gaza may have already cost him Minnesota, with its concentrated population of Palestinian-Americans.
Giving people an image of ineffectuality does not bolster the rolls.
If Biden is the Democratic nominee, I will be voting for the president to preserve the republic. I would prefer a more unifying choice.
(Gary Edmondson is chair of the Stephens County Democratic Party.)