Biden Revisited - Rob Horowitz
Rob Horowitz, MINDSETTER™
Biden Revisited - Rob Horowitz
The renewed focus on that fateful decision, as well as the inextricably related question of his declining communications and cognitive capacities in the final year or so of his presidency, was further fueled by the release of audio recordings of the interviews special counsel Robert Hur conducted with the former president. If anything, his memory lapses, and halting speech were worse than Mr. Hur’s description—one that the Biden team vociferously objected to at the time. Mr. Biden’s announcement that he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer also contributed to the outsize coverage.
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The prostate cancer diagnosis, unfortunately, brought out the worst in some of the former president’s political opponents who cruelly sought to make political hay out of it. Donald Trump Jr, for example, posted this nasty comment on X: “What I want to know is how did Dr. Jill Biden miss stage five metastatic cancer," the businessman wrote above the post, "or is this yet another coverup???" Our sympathies and well-wishes should be with Mr. Biden and his family as they confront this life-threatening health challenge. Even in these polarized times, that is the least we should expect from political actors and just plain old citizens.
That said, Mr. Biden’s decision to run for another term is one that merits the new scrutiny it is receiving. Despite the fact he eventually bowed out of the race, it was arguably the largest single contributing factor to the election of Donald Trump. Additionally, given the marked decline in his ability to publicly communicate even before one gets to the question of growing cognitive deficiencies, it is difficult to envision how if Mr. Biden had stayed in and against all odds won, he would have been able to effectively make the public case for his second-term agenda.
The facts and reporting supplied by Tapper and Thompson in “Original Sin” make that decision seem even more selfish and ill-advised than it did in the wake of the disastrous debate performance that forced his late July 2024 exit from the contest. The authors persuasively detail how a closed circle of top-level staffers worked to limit access, shielding the president even from members of his own cabinet at times, attempted to hide his bad moments, which happened far more frequently than anyone let on, and papered over his communications deficiencies.
As a political matter, these efforts only ended up only postponing a reckoning that should have taken place in the Fall of 2023. That is when whether or not to run for a second term should have been robustly debated within his inner circle. Instead, as Tapper and Thompson write, it was presented as a fait accompli.
By then, the precipitous decline in his ability to publicly communicate was evident to all with eyes to see. During this time-period, I and other outside observers who were not privy to an up close and personal daily view urged him to seriously consider not running for another term. This is despite the fact we believed he was a very good president As I wrote then, “About 3-in-4 registered voters overall, including most Democrats, now think that Joe Biden is too old to serve another term, according to several recent polls. This percentage has steadily increased over his term of office as has the number of people who mention Biden’s advanced age as the first thing that comes to mind when asked about him.”
President Biden had many important accomplishments during his 4 years in office. These include winning the adoption of landmark legislation on climate and infrastructure as well as expanding NATO and fortifying Ukraine to withstand Russia’s brutal invasion designed to take over a sovereign nation simply because it believed it had the military strength to prevail.
The most consequential decision he made, however, was his decision to pursue another term. This greatly eased Donald Trump’s path to the presidency. If Mr. Biden had been the transitional president he promised to be, a robust primary process would have likely delivered a candidate more able to distance themselves from him or if Kamala Harris prevailed in the nomination contest, it would have been because she established a stronger independent identity. This was essential because largely due to concerns about his age, Mr. Biden high disapproval rate refused to budge, despite economic improvements. Although most voters had an unfavorable view of Donald Trump and were reluctant to return him to the White House, a stronger motivating factor to swing voters was turning the page from the Biden administration.
By failing to dispassionately consider his growing weaknesses as a communicator as well as the fact that his capacity to do all aspects of the job were likely to continue to decline in a second term, Joe Biden made a selfish, ego-driven decision that have put his considerable legislative accomplishments in jeopardy. It resulted in a person that he correctly views as a threat to our democracy and manifestly unfit for the presidency returning to the White House.
With more than 100 days into Donald Trump’s new term, Mr. Biden’s repeatedly publicly expressed view of the dangers of a second Trump presidency almost seem understated. That makes the former president’s decision to run again and his team’s unwillingness to have a real conversation about it before it was publicly announced--when it would have counted-- look even worse.
Pride, ego and ambition among powerful politicians, of course, is an old story. The best ones, however, rise above it and make decisions in the best interests of the nation. In this one important case, Joe Biden failed that basic test. The country he loves and over many years, mainly served admirably is paying for it.