Pack it in, Joe. Release those Delegates!

 

by Pa Rock

Democrat

We begin aging the minute we are born.  That's just the way it is.

It seems as though Joe Biden's political history has always been entangled with his age.   The Constitution sets a minimum age of thirty for US Senators, and Biden was just barely thirty when he was first sworn into the US Senate in January of 1973 - more than half-a-century ago.  He has related that he looked so young that he was challenged for stepping onto an elevator reserved for the use of senators.  Today, of course, no one would challenge Joe's right to be almost anywhere, but they might offer an arm for support.

The whole world seems to be buzzing over what to do about Joe following his humiliating performance at last Thursday night's debate in Atlanta.  Pundits, politicians, and the public-at-large are expressing collective shock that an eighty-one-year-old man had trouble moving about and expressing himself clearly.  It's a problem that many in America have been quietly stepping around and trying to ignore for multiple election cycles, but now, after last week's televised debacle, Biden's advanced age must be acknowledged and addressed.

Joe Biden was sixty -five when Barack Obama lifted him from the Senate and made him his running mate in 2008.   Biden had sought the presidency himself in 1988 and 2008, but the prize had eluded him.  The fact that he would age beyond a viable age range for President while serving as Vice President probably figured into the political calculus that Obama used in selecting him for the ticket.  He would be sixty-nine after one Obama term and seventy-three after two, clearly too old in either case to pursue the top job.   In 2016 at the end of two terms, Obama gave his veep the Presidential Medal of Freedom and deftly nudged him out of the way in favor of the somewhat younger former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.

But, as we all know, Biden was back in 2020 after America's catastrophic four years of the Donald Trump presidency, and he promoted himself as the only Democrat who could beat Trump - and at the well-advanced age of seventy-seven he managed to do just that.  One of his selling points during that campaign was the quiet notion spread through Democratic circles that he was an emergency fix and would obviously step down after one term.  That, of course, did not happen, and now here we are, post Atlanta, with an enfeebled candidate who has a lock on the Democratic nomination and whose ego won't let him leave the race.

Since last Thursday night when Joe Biden mumbled and stumbled his way through a critical televised showdown with this country's most prominent loud-mouthed liar (who is also way too old to be serving as President), the nation has been struggling with what to do about Joe.  Should we sit idly by and allow him to remain at the helm, even though his hands are shaky and his commands are weak and garbled. or should we encourage him to step aside and take our chances with someone else?  Joe is still prattling on that he is the only one who can beat Trump.  Can he beat Trump?  And even if he does beat Trump, what will his leadership skills look like in three or four years on into his next term?

At this point there is still time to replace Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket.   The Democratic National Convention will be held in Chicago August 19-22, and it is there that the delegates will officially select this year's presidential and vice-presidential ticket.  If Biden were to release his delegates, as I understand it, two scenarios are possible:  1.  He could announce that he was stepping aside in favor of Vice President Harris, and the convention would most likely feel obligated to nominate her;  or, 2. He could simply announce that he was leaving the race and freeing his delegates  to vote their conscience for whomever they pleased - and a general melee would likely ensue.

Bringing in a last-minute presidential nominee would limit the time for a proper vetting and open up the possibility that something could be unearthed about that candidate prior to the election that would wind up throwing the race to Trump, especially if the candidate was someone other than the well-vetted Vice President Harris.  It could also serve to shift party positions on certain issues depending on who the new candidate turned out to be.   But a new candidate would (or at least should) revitalize the race and increase the odds of winning the general election in November.

If Joe keeps the nomination for himself, the Democratic Party is further behind now than it was a week ago, especially by the metric of enthusiasm.

As of this morning Joe says he is staying in the race.  He met with his family at Camp David over the weekend and says the decision to remain in the race was a family consensus.  But the defeat of Donald Trump and the preservation of democracy is serious business and should involve more than just a Biden family conflab.  Listen to America, Joe.  This isn't about you, it's about us.

Stand down, Joe - so that somebody else can stand up.

Donald Trump is too dim-witted, mean-spirited, cruel, and dishonest to be our leader - and he is too old.  Help us get rid of him once of for all by clearing the path for someone else who can take him out.  The Democratic team is bursting with talent.  Let somebody else have a turn.

Pack it in, Joe.  Release those delegates!