Biden had a bad day. More specifically, he had a bad debate. Yet this is no time to abandon Biden. It is time to stand by Biden. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. Fear that Biden can’t beat Trump can become a self-fulfilling prophesy that only it makes it harder for Biden to beat Trump.
Do the polls taken after the debate scare me? Yes. But according to Vox, “No alternative candidate does better than Biden.” The next best contender is Harris, and she is on the ticket with Biden.
I find saying this strangely ironic, as four years ago I favored Kamala Harris for President over Biden. I also was a huge Bernie fan. So why am I not touting Bernie replace Biden? Because Biden is polling better against Trump than Bernie is.
IMIO (In My Informed Opinion) Bernie Sanders would have beaten Donald Trump in 2016. In almost every state, polling indicated Bernie had twice the lead over Trump than Hillary had. According to NBC News:
“In a hypothetical match-up against Donald Trump, Sanders does much better than the current Democratic front-runner [Hillary Clinton.]
“When respondents in our NBC News…Poll were asked whether they would cast a vote for Trump or either of the Democratic candidates still in the race, Sanders is the favorite over Trump by 13 points.”
Of course, such data didn’t persuade enough people to switch to Bernie, as everyone complacently believed Hillary would beat Trump anyway.
In the 2020 election I also favored Bernie over Biden, but my friends who preferred Biden made the case that Biden had a better chance of beating Trump than Bernie or anyone else.
Now it is 2024 and Biden again has the best chance to beat Trump. But whereas in 2016 there was complacency that Hillary would win, even if Bernie polled better; suddenly scores of Democrats are pressuring Biden to drop out, even though the polls favor Biden over anyone else. Kamala Harris is a close second.
I not only had the opportunity not only to meet Kamala Harris in person but was able to talk with her one-on-one. She even signed her book I was reading. I sincerely hope Kamala will become the President someday. That day is not November 5, 2024.
This is my 112th diary. The very first I wrote was called Mad Man in which I argued that Trump was not mentally fit enough to be President. I wrote similar articles over the years, as Trump’s mental abilities became more and more egregious. (See It’s Worse Than You Think.)
Why, I asked myself, could I clearly see Trump’s mental pathology and increasing dementia, and not see it in Biden? Here is the answer: because Biden doesn’t have any mental pathology or dementia. He had a bad day.
Biden never should have debated Trump. It was a risky longshot that backfired. But that’s water over the dam. What we have to do now is not make the damn mistake of abandoning Biden. He is America’s best chance to beat Trump. I trust Biden has learned his lesson and will never debate Trump again. It wasn’t even a real debate. No one can effectively deal with the deluge of hateful lies that Trump spewed.
Seeing the debate, I freaked out, too. Fortunately, I heard Biden make several eloquent speeches prior to the debate. I also heard him make several eloquent speeches after the debate. But the debate didn’t reveal that Biden is mentally impaired, because Biden isn’t mentally impaired. First of all, dementia often occurs in older people. This does not mean the older you get, the worse your brain functions. What it means is that older people are more likely to have dementia than younger people. Football players are more likely to have had a concussion than non-footballs players; but that doesn’t mean all football players have suffered a concussion. Trump is a couple of years younger than Biden. Trump has dementia; Biden doesn’t.
Ronald Reagan also had dementia. According to his son Ron Reagan, his father exhibited symptoms of Alzheimer’s as early as his re-election in 1984. Reagan was then 74.
Everyone has three ages, although only one of them is easy to measure. Chronological age; Physical age, how healthy your body is; and Mental Age, how sharp your mind is. This realism became clear to me when I went to summer camp at age fifteen. My parents wisely had me stay in the group of boys from twelve through fourteen. Even so, I was the second youngest-looking kid out of about sixty campers, even though I was the oldest. A friend in my cabin who knew my actual age summed me up: “Steve, you have the body of a ten-year-old, the age of a fifteen-year-old, and the mind of a twenty-year-old.” Of course, when you’re a kid, it is considered good to have a mental age higher than your chronological age. That’s the way they first measured IQs in school children. However, it is no compliment to be told that one has the mind of a ninety-year-old, no matter how sharp mentally you are. For the record, other than genetics, the best way to have a better mental age and physical age than your chronological age is to exercise physically extensively. It doesn’t hurt your mental age to exercise your brain by reading, listening, and learning; three traits Biden has, and Trump lacks.
Yet it occurs to me that any great president, or other great leader, needs to do more than be physically fit and mentally sharp; he needs to appear physically fit and mentally sharp. It is for this very reason various presidents and other leaders wisely did their best to hide their infirmities.
And you know who said, “We have nothing to fear, but fear, itself.” It was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who, crippled by polio, did his dead level best to make sure the public never saw him in a wheelchair. Nor did the public know that at the time FDR began his fourth term, his health was deteriorating. He was losing weight and constantly fatigued. He had severe bronchitis and reduced lung capacity. On top of that he had serious congestive heart failure. Yet the history of the world might have been drastically different—and far worse— if Roosevelt didn’t serve a fourth term in spite of his infirmities at age 62.
Roosevelt wasn’t the only one. Young, vibrant, energetic John F. Kennedy was in worse shape physically than Biden is today. All this was carefully concealed from the public, but Kennedy suffered greatly from Addisons Disease, ulcers, colitis and took high doses of dangerous drugs to ease pain from his injured back.
Abraham Lincoln suffered from major depression. Some historians argue his depression made him a better, more compassionate president. Yet Lincoln did his best to conceal it. The Civil War took its toll on Lincoln. Before he was assassinated, he had physically aged tremendously, and it showed on his face. Yet he was fifty-six.
Ulysses S. Grant, suffered from alcoholism all his life. Most of the time, in fact for years at a time, Grant remained sober. But that didn’t stop his political enemies and detractors from accusing him of drinking, even if he wasn’t. Allegedly, when Lincoln was told to get rid of General Grant because he drank too much, Lincoln said find out what he’s drinking and give it to the other generals. Grant’s wife and his closest supporters not only worked to keep Grant sober, they constantly had to thwart false rumors of his drinking.
On a slightly lighter note, Gerald Ford, lost his balance and fell while on camera—more than once. Thanks to Chevy Chase, America never forgot Ford’s unfortunate clumsiness.
Of course, Biden isn’t senile, or crippled, or alcoholic, or suffers from depression. But Biden does have a speech impediment. He sometimes stutters and isn’t immune from making a verbal gaffe.
King George VI of England was plagued by serious stammering, as eloquently illustrated in the 2010 movie, The Kings Speech. Although modern Kings predominately only give speeches, nobody was ready to jettison King George, just because he had a bad stutter.
When I watched Biden’s debate, I was worried that Biden wasn’t up to the challenges facing him. Since then, I have come to the conclusion Biden is the best bet we have for saving our country from the disastrous consequences of a Trump presidency/fascist dictatorship. Today, I am worried far more about the fear so many Democrats have that Biden can’t cut the mustard. As never before, FDR’s words ring true; “The only thing we have to fear, is fear, itself.”
Of course, I could be wrong. I watched the recent NATO press conference. Biden only had a few bad gaffes, but they stuck out like a sore thumb, probably because I expected him to hit the ball out the park, while fearing he might blow it. He did OK, but OK isn’t going to subside the fear and anxiety that he might be too old. Currently, I think Biden is the best candidate because the polls indicate he is the best candidate. Should the polls indicate Harris can do better than Biden, then Biden should step down and allow Harris to step up. I have no doubts that Biden is up to the task of being President again, and I find it inexplicable that more people don’t rally behind him—including reasonable Republicans.
My greatest fear is that Trump wins the election. I just want whichever candidate that has the best chance of beating him to take him on. Regardless of how capable Biden actually is, he needs to appear capable or else the voters won’t support him. Today, I believe the best candidate is Biden. Tomorrow I might have to change my mind. But it isn’t up to me. It’s up to Biden.