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We need to talk about Joe [1]

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Date: 2023-09-26

Like many of us, I experienced a gut punch when the results of the recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showing Donald Trump (aka “Dump”) leading Joe Biden by 10 points came out last weekend. As most quasi-respectable commentators were quick to point out, this poll was widely considered an “outlier,” as the polling averages show Biden and Dump in essentially a tie, at about 46% each. But as analysts as diverse as Steve Kornacki (MSNBC) and Cenk Uygur (Young Turks) agree, those polling averages are hardly reassuring. Not only are Biden’s negatives pesky and persistent in the polling breakdowns, they’re frustrating and gob-smacking when viewed against the baggage of a thuggish nut-job and career criminal. One might be forgiven for assuming that the average American voter (at least those who aren’t in thrall to the MAGA cult) would be at least as concerned about an opposition candidate’s vows to end American representative government, void all criminal liability for insurrection, and pursue retribution against his perceived enemies, as they are about Joe Biden’s feeble public speaking style. But there you have it — Biden’s negatives have been high for a couple years (arguably unfairly so) and they appear to be getting worse. And the bad news keeps on coming: the border crisis! Bob Menendez indictment! Inflation! MAGA’s Biden impeachment putsch! And, oh yeah, the small matter of a looming government shutdown.

Biden may not be the most astute president of the 21st Century (although, who knows, he might be), but really, who could manage to look presidential and inspire confidence in the current political landscape? This is where the gap between his actual accomplishments and policy wins versus his communication and messaging skills becomes most telling. Team Biden seems to have made the tactical decision to forego all mention of Dump’s indictments, his ongoing criminality in the forms of witness tampering and obstruction of justice, his unhinged commitment to stochastic terrorism. In more normal times, this decision might make sense. Why play into the hands of the perp’s ridiculous charges that “Crooked Joe” is directing the DOJ witch hunt against him by engaging the topic at all, Biden seems to reason. But at some point, this passivity plays right into the bully’s hands. Note how Special Counsel Jack Smith finally concluded that the defendant had to be legally restrained from his endless line crossing — his public threats toward witnesses and prosecutors, his contamination of jury pools through the spouting of unchallenged lies. As I write this, we’re awaiting Judge Chutkan’s decision about the gag order requested by Jack Smith to silence the defendant on this narrow range of violent and intimidating pretrial speech. In a similar vein, we’re well past the point where the Biden team should have started speaking sensibly and forcefully about the unthinkable dangers posed by another Dump presidency. To remain silent in the face of this obscenity, this looming catastrophe, carries the appearance not of principled fair-mindedness but of dithering timidity and surrender.

Biden’s unwillingness, or perhaps inability, to respond to the challenge in a forceful, articulate, courageous manner not only leaves him appearing weak and inexplicably detached, it cedes the rhetorical stage to the former president and his MAGA allies. Except in progressive media spaces, Dump’s easily debunked horseshit about his legal persecution, the Big Lie, the Jan 6th insurrection, and so forth goes unchallenged and is amplified without real pushback from his only opponent who currently matters in the upcoming race. What a way to confront fascism. What a way to run a campaign, Joe.

A lengthy digression, yes, but one that leads me back to my original point: Should Joe Biden run for re-election? Or should one or more Democrats at least undertake a primary challenge to the president? I was thinking about this anew after I read about the aforementioned “outlier” poll, and then I stumbled across this op-ed in the Washington Post by David Ignatius. After reading it, I felt a little less forlorn, just realizing this option remains on the table for at least a bit longer and may be gathering momentum. (Uygur claims that Biden’s under 40% approval rating at this stage of the game is unrecoverable. “You're just telling yourself sweet little lies if you think he can win with those numbers.”) A primary challenge by Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, or Eric Swalwell might be exactly what Biden needs to prove to himself and others that he can either meet the challenge of running for re-election or not. Before he actually goes up against Dump for a second time, we need to see whether his age, thought processes, and public speaking abilities are up to the ordeal he’ll undoubtedly face in such a campaign. Biden might well prevail in a primary challenge … and if so, he and the Democrats will be on more solid ground than they are now. And if not, Democratic Party voters’ wishes will have been respected and endorsed.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/26/2195445/-We-need-to-talk-about-Joe

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