Tell Us It Ain't So, Joe

Joe Biden has, with good justification, traded on personal integrity and, dare I say it regarding a politician, honesty. Not perfect, but not bad by Washington standards. On Friday after the first (and probably last) debate with D. Trump, he fired up his vocal cords at a small North Carolina rally of the faithful and proclaimed his honesty. “I know how to tell the truth” he forcefully read from a teleprompter to cheers and chants. But does he know the truth? If he doesn’t know it, how can he possibly tell it. 

His point was to draw contrast with Trump who, like any good clinical narcissist, has unabashedly concluded that anything that comes out of his mouth is truth. It doesn’t matter what. This works just fine for a mind-blowingly large number of Americans who view Trump as a symbolic bulwark, protecting them from a host of contrived Conservative fears. 

However, Biden wasn’t talking to the MAGA crowd then or at the Thursday night “debate”. Biden was talking to the rest of America, the part of America which will decide just what kind of direction this Country is heading.  At the “debate” Biden’s handlers were probably counting on Trump’s lies, mistruths, and hyperbole (among other bad behavior) to successfully move the needle in their candidate’s direction. The error of their judgment is frightening. 

Within the first 10 minutes of the face-off it didn’t matter what Trump said. He could have read and re-read Green Eggs and Ham. What Trump did say was no more informative (nor real) than if he had. At that point all I could see or hear was what I had been blindly hoping I would not see or hear: Biden is not just 81, he is an old 81. As this campaign deepens over the next 4 months this truth is not going to go away. 

Biden trying to exalt his record was meaningless, so was his trying to excoriate Trump’s record or lies. You can’t get to point ‘B’ bypassing point ‘A’ when point ‘A’ is physical and mental capability. His performance was indisputable and the reason for that performance was reality rearing its inescapable head. 

The spin makers began to throw out excuses even while the debate was in motion, like the alleged cold which seemed to magically disappear after the “debate”. Later they referenced Obama’s first debate in 2012 as analogous…oh please. Obama seemed flat because our expectations were so high. It wasn’t a disaster. Our expectations for Biden were nearly rock bottom but somehow he managed to slip beneath those. We were hoping for a President that could at least somewhat exceed low expectations, as he managed to do in his prepared remarks at the State of the Union. 

So what has happened in the days following this “debate”? Despite a deafening chorus of calls for him to release his delegates and drop from the race he expects us to ignore what we cannot un-see or un-hear, just as Trump expects with the regularity of a heartbeat. Only Biden does not inspire the number of voters, blind with naiveté and fear, that Trump does. We actually expect the truth from Joe, but if he doesn’t see it, we’re not going to get it. 

Biden’s delivery was not new. I started writing four years ago that if he was elected he needed to proclaim himself a one-term President (https://pennyfound.blogspot.com/2020/03/jill-biden-for-first-lady.html) . Instead he believes his truth that; he can campaign, win an election, and effectively govern for four strenuous years, exceeds the risks that a Trump Presidency creates…our senses be damned. 

This appears to be a watershed moment in American History; Representative Democracy vs. Representative Authoritarianism, the Supreme Court, Climate Change, International Relations, Woman’s rights, Ukraine, and wealth inequality et al, may all pivot on what truth Joe Biden is willing or able to see. It’s likely that he cannot be elected on only an anti-Trump vote. Enough non-MAGA voters have indicated they want someone to vote for. 

He cannot be replaced without his agreement. Like Narcissus, if Biden has looked in the water and can see only himself, it may be the one fatal commonality he has with Trump.