I Will Not Have to Run for President Again Because the Democratic
Bret Stephens
Biden Should Not Run Again — and He Should Say He Won't
Is it a good idea for Joe Biden to run for re-ballot in 2024? And, if he runs again and wins, would information technology be good for the United States to have a president who is 86 — the age Biden would be at the end of a second term?
I put these questions bluntly because they need to be discussed candidly, not merely whispered constantly.
In the 1980s, it was off-white game for reputable reporters to enquire whether Ronald Reagan was too old for the presidency, at a time when he was several years younger than Biden is today. Donald Trump'south apparent difficulty property a glass and his constricted vocabulary repeatedly prompted unflattering speculation well-nigh his health, mental and otherwise. And Joe Biden's memory lapses were a source of mirth among his Democratic master rivals, at least until he won the nomination.
Yet it'southward now considered horrible manners to enhance concerns about Biden's age and health. Equally if doing so can only play into Trump's hands. As if the president's well-being is nobody's business merely his own. As if information technology doesn't much affair whether he has the fortitude for the world's most important job, so long as his aides tin can adroitly fill the gaps. Every bit if accusations of ageism and a giant shushing sound from media elites can go on the issue off the public mind.
It won't practice. From some of his public appearances, Biden seems … uneven. Ofttimes cogent, but sometimes alarmingly incoherent. What's the reason? I accept no idea. Do his appearances (including the practiced ones) inspire strong confidence that the president tin can go the distance in his current term, to say nothing of the next? No.
And many people seem to know it. On Sunday, my colleagues Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns reported on the Democratic Party's not-so-repose murmurs about what to do if Biden decides not to run. Aspirants for the nomination appear in the story similar sharks circling a raft, swimming slow.
This is not good for you. Not for the president himself, not for the role he holds, not for the Democratic Party, not for the land.
In 2019, the Biden campaign — cognizant of the candidate's age — sold him to primary voters equally a "transition figure," the guy whose chief purpose was to dethrone Trump and so smooth the manner for a fresher Democratic face. Biden never fabricated that hope explicit, but the expectation feels betrayed.
Things might be unlike if the Biden presidency were off to a swell start. Information technology'due south not. Arraign Joe Manchin or Mitch McConnell or the antivaxxers, but Biden'southward poll numbers accept been deeply underwater since August. The man who in one case gave his party hope now weighs on his political party's fortunes like a pair of cement shoes.
Things might too be different if it looked similar the assistants would shortly plow the corner. That'south the assistants'southward hope for the mammoth Build Back Better legislation. But last month'south passage of the infrastructure nib didn't really move the political needle for Biden, and that bill was genuinely popular. Now B.B.B. looms as another plush progressive lark in a fourth dimension of surging prices, spiking homicides, resurgent illness, urban decay, a border crisis, a supply-chain crunch and the threat of Iran crossing the nuclear threshold and of Russian federation crossing the Ukrainian border.
Oh, and Kamala Harris. Her supporters might decry the fact, but to an ever-growing number of Americans, the heir apparent seems lighter than air. Her poll numbers at this point in her term are the worst of those of whatsoever vice president in recent history, including Mike Pence's. If she winds upward as her party's default nominee if Biden pulls out late, Democrats will have every reason to panic.
So what's the president to practice? He should denote, much sooner than later, that he volition not run for a second term.
The statement against this is that it would instantly turn him into a lame-duck president, and that's undoubtedly true.
Only, news wink: Right now he's worse than a lame duck, because potential Democratic successors are prevented from making calls, finding their lanes and appealing for attending. That goes especially for people in the administration who should be powerful contenders: Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Transportation Secretarial assistant Pete Buttigieg and infrastructure arbiter Mitch Landrieu.
And what would that mean for the rest of the Biden presidency? Far from weakening him, it would instantly allow him to exist statesmanlike. And it would be liberating. It would put an end to the endless media speculation. Information technology would inject enthusiasm and interest into a listless Autonomous Party. It would let him devote himself wholly to addressing the country's firsthand problems without worrying about re-ballot.
And it needn't diminish his presidency. George H.W. Bush-league accomplished more in four years than his successor achieved in eight. Greatness is oft easier to achieve when good policies aren't burdened by clever politics. Biden should think on it — and human activity shortly.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/14/opinion/biden-age-election-2024.html
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