Here\u2019s my reality: President Joe Biden is old. He\u2019ll be even older when he takes office on January 20th<\/sup>, 2025, eighty-two. And from my perch here at sixty-seven, that\u2019s definitely old. Is the Presidency a \u201cyounger man\u2019s job\u201d? Sure it is. We saw the energy and vitality President Obama brought to the office. Historically we look at Teddy Roosevelt and John Kennedy as men whose youth changed their times, energized the Nation, and set us on a new course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2020, I was a Pete Buttigieg fan, before I voted for Biden. In 2028 (I\u2019ll be seventy-two), I look forward to deciding among Pete, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, Kamala Harris and perhaps others not yet on the scene. The future of the Democratic Party is bright. But it\u2019s not time to \u201ccall the future\u201d; it\u2019s not time to move on from Joseph R Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before the 45th<\/sup> President, I was a \u201ctrue believer\u201d in the ability of the Presidency to \u201cmake the person\u201d. My example was George W Bush, a \u201clight-weight\u201d candidate, who entered the Presidency under the thumb of his Vice President, Dick Cheney. But Bush rose to the moment of 9-11, and ultimately reclaimed his Presidency from Cheney and Rumsfeld. There were plenty of mistakes, and plenty of decisions I disagreed with, but Bush became \u201cPresidential\u201d. The office made the man, he rose to the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was my hope that somehow Donald Trump would find that grace in office as well.\u00a0\u00a0But he proved to be the exception.\u00a0\u00a0At each interval of crisis, Trump chose the wrong path.\u00a0\u00a0After Charlottesville, it was \u201c\u2026good people on both sides\u201d. On the border, he sanctioned ripping children out of the arms of parents. And worst of all, during the pandemic,\u00a0\u00a0he chose political expediency over leadership. It was clear that this deeply flawed man was not changed by the responsibilities of our highest office.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if the twice impeached, four-time indicted, charged with 93 separate crimes, ex-President was not running for office again, then I too might call \u201cthe future\u201d now. But just as American history has called on men to \u201crise to office\u201d, it has also called Joe Biden to stand for the common man. Biden is the literal polar opposite of Trump. He is modest where Trump is brash, he is calm where Trump is bombastic, he is seasoned where Trump has failed the tests. Sure Biden is old, and so is Trump. But, as Biden himself would say, don\u2019t compare him to the \u201cAlmighty\u201d, compare him to his opponent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n History called Biden out of retirement, like an old warhorse pulled out of the pasture. It was, and is, his job to counter-balance Trump in a way no other politician can. \u201cAverage Joe\u201d versus \u201cGolden Escalator Trump\u201d is the story of our era. And since Trump refuses to go away, Biden is the last, best chance to defeat him, again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Need proof? Even Republicans are figuring it out. DeSantis, the \u201cgolden boy\u201d can\u2019t touch Trump. He can\u2019t \u201cout-Trump\u201d him, and he can\u2019t \u201cout-youth\u201d him, and he can\u2019t \u201cout-fundraise\u201d him. And don\u2019t even start on Vivek Ramaswamy, as Chris Christie says, a candidate that sounds like \u201cChat GPT\u201d. He made some press, but barely scores double digits in Republican polling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans are deciding to make the 2024 election another existential threat to American democracy.\u00a0\u00a0They are choosing their \u201ccharismatic\u201d (hard to imagine) autocrat, who threatens our Constitutional freedoms on multiple levels, as their candidate.\u00a0\u00a0And America has determined the counter to Trump:\u00a0\u00a0Biden.\u00a0\u00a0So it\u2019s two old men in 2024.\u00a0\u00a0For John Wayne fans, it\u2019s \u201cRooster Cogburn or The Cowboys or The Shootist\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s Biden\u2019s final act of a political career that started sixty years ago.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n To me, 2024 isn\u2019t about conservative or progressive.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not about the economic issues; whether rich people should get a tax break to \u201ctrickle down\u201d their wealth to us masses, or the US should ignore climate change.\u00a0This election is about a man who believes the Presidency should be unchecked by the rest of the government.\u00a0It is about the essential definition of democracy:\u00a0\u00a0should \u201cthe people\u201d decide what the laws are, or should a select few make the decisions for all.\u00a0\u00a02024, like 2020, may determine not just which political party controls the White House, but the literal fate of the Constitutional experiment of American democracy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be truthful, Biden is too moderate for me.\u00a0\u00a0There are other Democrats (not Bernie) who more closely represent my political views.\u00a0\u00a0But time has chosen Biden, old as he is, to stand for American values at a time when they are most threatened, more than at any other time in our history.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And that\u2019s really all that matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stand with Biden, again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rise to the Challenge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Call the Future<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Republican Choice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Existential Threat<\/h3>\n\n\n\n