Bless His Heart

Joe Biden Reemerges

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For a man who painstakingly climbed the public service ladder for fifty years, finally achieving his dream of the Presidency in the twilight of his career, the end came swiftly and unceremoniously for Joe Biden. Not only did he go from an incumbent in the spotlight running for re-election, to an afterthought, in a few hours on July 21st, but, upon Donald Trump’s victory on November 5th, Trump essentially acted, and was treated by the media, world leaders, and business executives, as the sitting President. Never has a President seemed so small and insignificant as Biden did when he flew to Palm Springs, CA on the afternoon of January 20th.

It was inevitable that, at some point, Biden would seek to re-enter the public light in an effort to rehabilitate his image. The drive began a few weeks ago, when Biden gave his first major speech, and accelerates on Thursday, when Joe and Jill are guests on The View. But, for many Democrats, their reemergence is painful and unwelcome.

Today, the Democratic Party finds itself in a deep hole. As I have previously written about, as a brand, we are seen as weak, untrustworthy, culturally disconnected, and not offering relevant solutions. While some of these problems were building prior to Biden, he made them all materially worse. What is frustrating as a Democrat who spends time thinking of how the Party can build back, is that I don’t believe the Bidens’ - nor their closest, longtime senior aides - have much, if any, self-awareness of their role in all of this.

From covering up and lying to the public about his acuity, to his inability from Day One to do the public or performative aspects of the job, to his outsourcing of personnel and policy to Senators Warren and Sanders, to his refusal to acknowledge, let alone address, the problems of inflation, immigration, and crime and safety, to choosing a Vice President he had zero confidence in, Joe Biden was the central actor in our electoral decline.

Even with all of this, usually a President, even if he leaves unpopular, brings with him a constituency or issue that the public positively identifies with him. But, in this instance, Biden was the first person elected in the modern era with no electoral base other than Trump-hatred, and left with no issue for which Democrats have a positive connotation. The political upside to Democrats of his return is zero, while the weight of his failure is an anchor we try daily to shed.

I write all of this with sadness, not glee. It breaks my heart that Biden ended his historic career, full of remarkable accomplishments, with such a failed presidency. It is my wish that he, Jill and their teams follow the example of the Reagans, who quietly rode off into the sunset with dignity and grace, always mindful of those last few glances the public would have of the 40th President. But Biden is stubborn. As he reemerges, as they say in the south, “bless his heart.”