By Sylvester Brown Jr.
July 11, 2024
Is it just me or do these ongoing conversations about Joe Biden’s age and his ability to continue serving as president seem … well, dumb? Is it just a stupid Republican argument or one that Democrats have dumbed themselves down enough to engage in?
Fact: The idea that one man runs the country is ludicrous.
It may be in bad taste, but if Biden was to pass away tomorrow, his administration of more than 2,000 staffers with policy-making responsibilities would go on enacting his agenda.
When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took the helm. The Johnson Administration enacted Kennedy’s policies, which included the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. In fact, it could be argued that Kennedy’s death motivated stunned voters to continue his legacy.
The hang-wringing and boo-wooing about Biden’s age is a cartoonish quarrel buoyed by a comic book myth of a lone, all-powerful decider-in-chief.
Now, sure, one can argue the policy and agenda of a dead president can drastically change if seceded by a vice president with contrary views.
After President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1875, his successor, Vice President Andrew Johnson, a pre-Civil War slave owner, was intent on restoring property and power to white Southerners while denying constitutional equality to freed slaves.
There’s no evidence, however, that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have divergent agendas. If anything, a Kamala Harris presidency is the far-right’s worst nightmare, even if they won’t say that part out loud.
The mere fact that one 90-minute debate where Biden failed absolutely has prompted mass calls for him to drop out of the race is reactionary and ridiculous. How Democrats could sit back and let Biden’s mumbling and stumbling dominate the media’s response compared to Trump’s more than 30 outright lies and mistruths simply boggles the mind.
Facts: Trump bungled the federal response to the COVID pandemic which contributed to the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans. He is a career conman who was just convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to silence a porn star ahead of the 2016 election.
During the debate when Biden chided him for having the “morals of an alley cat,” Trump bluntly responded: “I didn’t have sex with a porn star.”
No glaring media headlines demanding a felon drop out of the race. No bipartisan outrage. It was all about Biden’s age.
Republicans and right-wing media pundits deserve credit for their consistent, Nazi-like propaganda machine. No matter how many outright lies, verbal farts or downright insane things Trump spews in public, the Right propagandized past his foibles while hyping his easily refutable talking points. Damn the truth, under Trump, ‘America had the best economy, the best job growth and the best tax breaks’ for ordinary Americans.’
Meanwhile, mealy-mouthed Democrats have engaged with the Right in silly debates about Biden’s age when they should be “propagandizing” the “old man’s” accomplishments, which include: Historic job growth in his first three years that outperformed any previous president (yes, that includes Trump); under Biden, rapid disinflation is unmatched in modern history; uninsured Americans are at an all-time low; under the Biden Administration there has been a historic rise in real wages for lower income workers; and violent crimes, especially homicides, have fallen across the nation.
And those are just a few of Biden’s biggest hits.
Even at his most incoherent during the debate, Joe Biden struck an important chord that Democrats should stubbornly and constantly echo over the next five months: “Donald Trump; a lying, immoral, felon is not qualified to lead this country. He is not good for democracy nor the country. Never was, never will be.”
Yes, according to polls, most Americans think Biden is too old to navigate a second term. Fine. Move on. Would you rather have the administration of an insurrectionist, a declared despot with an agenda to dismantle the Constitution, overhaul the federal government, lock up dissenters, mandate “Christian nationalism” and further strip reproductive rights from women (think Project 2025)?
Or would you prefer an administration that’s dedicated to preserving the Constitution, democracy and maintaining how the federal government and executive powers work; that will codify the right to an abortion into law, preserve the country’s international alliances and agreements and deliver on climate benchmarks?
If “President” Trump goes to jail or if President Biden’s health further deteriorates, their administrations and agendas will continue.
So, Democrats, stop engaging in dumb debates. Please, propagandize on point:
“It’s not about age; it’s about the agenda, stupid!”
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