Cincinnatus
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was a patrician of the Roman Republic. Legend has it that he was first elected dictator by the Senate of Rome in 458 BC to defend against the threat of invasion. He took command of the Roman Army, and in fifteen days defeated the enemy. He then walked away from his absolute power and returned to his farm. Almost twenty years later, he was again called to defend the Republic. This time it took twenty-one days, but again, after victory Cincinnatus voluntary gave up his absolute authority.
Cincinnatus was a prime example for the first American President, George Washington. After serving in the office for two, four-year terms, Washington chose not to seek a third election victory. He left the American capital in New York to return to his “farm”, his Mt Vernon plantation in Virginia. This established the American precedent of a two-term Presidency, set into Constitutional law after Franklin Roosevelt’s four terms in office. (And it inspired Lin Manuel Miranda to write “One Last Time”, as Washington explained to Hamilton the importance of teaching America that the country was more important than any individual – “♪Teach them how to say goodbye♪” ).
It is still the height of civic courage and sacrifice; the understanding that sometimes the civic good is served best by giving up power. Cincinnatus and Washington are the exceptions: politicians willing to walk away from the political authority they worked to achieve. And now add to that list, Joe Biden.
Biden
Cynics will say it’s not the same. They will claim that Biden didn’t give up anything, that he had no chance to win re-election in the first place. They’ll smugly note, that the whole reason for former Speaker Pelosi’s orchestrated pressure campaign was that Biden was going to lose. But Joe Biden has come “off the mat” before in his life. In his mind, if Harris can win, he can too. After all, he is the President of the United States, channeling Harry Truman in 1948 (of the famous “Dewey Wins” speech).
In normal times, I suspect Joe Biden would have continued his candidacy. But, as Senator Robert Kennedy stated; “There is an old Chinese curse, may he live in interesting times. Like it or not, we live in interesting times”. The election of 2024 is the existential threat, democracy versus autocracy. The side of democracy must take its best possible shot. Biden recognized that he wasn’t that. It was a personal decision, to give up the job he spent most of his life striving for, and more importantly, give up the opportunity to continue the great work he is in. It had to be devastating. But in our “interesting times”, Joe Biden made the right decision for his country, even if it was an absolute personal sacrifice.
Eagleton
And for MAGA-Republicans who now are so fascinated with the internal workings of the Democratic Party (the same MAGA-Republicans who brooked no dissent in their own political convention); here’s the deal. Both political parties have for years had contingency plans for a crisis change in candidate. It happened in 1972, when the Democratic Party nominated George McGovern for President and Senator Tom Eagleton as Vice President. Within a week, it came out that Eagleton had been treated for depression with electro-shock therapy.
In those times, any hint of a mental illness was automatically disqualifying from political office. When Eagleton’s private medical records were revealed, he resigned from the ticket, and the executive committee of the Democratic Party appointed former Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver as the Vice Presidential candidate. There was absolutely no controversy in the appointment, no question of whether Shriver’s name could replace Eagleton’s on the ballot.
And leading Republicans themselves considered removing their candidate for office in 2016. When the “Access Hollywood Tapes” were revealed, some Republicans looked for ways to strike Donald Trump from the head of their ticket. But instead, they chose to allow him to remain, assured that he would lose to Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately, FBI Director James Comey, unintentionally (I presume) had other plans. He fatally wounded the Clinton candidacy with the “Weiner Computer” leak. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Trump Strategy
Besides, part of Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race, was the “success” of the MAGA-Republican strategy. The Trump campaign spent millions of dollars convincing some Americans that Biden was enfeebled. Biden certainly didn’t help with his “performance” in the debate against Trump. That was the main “spear” in the armament of the Trump Campaign, and they threw it early in the battle. The impact was so successful, that Biden himself recognized the “political reality” it created, and withdrew.
Now Trump and his acolytes (Stephen Miller, for example) are screaming that the Democratic Party can’t “ignore the fourteen million votes” that Joe Biden received in the primaries. But they are the ones who spent millions to disqualify Biden. They are “reaping what they sowed”. And, for the record, the Convention delegates in both parties are elected to “represent” their states in choosing the candidates. The whole basis of representation is to use their judgment to make their best “choice”. Their pledged candidate Biden asked them to choose Harris. She already has more than enough delegates committed to guarantee her nomination (sorry, Joe Manchin, you are truly a non-factor).
President Joe Biden will remain in office until January 20th, 2025. Hopefully, he’ll have the historically unusual opportunity of turning over the Office to a President of his own party (that hasn’t happened since Reagan left, succeeded by George HW Bush in 1989). Either way, Biden doesn’t have a “farm” to return to. His home in Rehoboth Beach will have to do.
