The Thing You Can’t Unsee

It would be remiss of me to ignore our current political turmoil. 

One thing is obvious: You can’t unsee what happened to Biden in the first presidential debate. No matter what he does from that moment on, that performance will be forefront in the minds of voters. 

Another obvious thing: Trump isn’t going away. Republicans are stuck with him. 

It was really sad to see a man so publicly visible with cognitive impairment. It is especially concerning for a president, a man with huge responsibilities with the whole world watching and wondering. 

A president with cognitive issues shouldn’t be about politics, but rather what is best for the country. We are talking about the leader of the free world whose actions can affect the lives of many on the planet. I understand Democrats’ loyalty to their president, especially one who was reaching the end of his term, but this is bigger than politics.

Back in June the Wall Street Journal wrote a piece entitled “Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping.” They interviewed 45 people in and out of the Administration, Republicans, and Democrats, over several months. The subtext of the article was that his Oval Office staff and close advisers were aware he was “slipping” but asserted publicly that he was still sharp and engaged. They did their party and America a disservice. 

If Biden runs, then Trump is a shoe-in. Despite Trump’s outrageous nonsensical performance during the debate, as compared to Biden, he looked alert, sharp, and vigorous. 

My take is that since the Democrats do not wish to lose the presidency, Biden will succumb to pressure to not run and will release his delegates, perhaps only after a deal is made on a consensus replacement candidate. 

They will have a problem with that. Let me explain why that is.

The reason Biden won the 2020 election was Donald Trump. Trump, being his own worst enemy, had worn out the electorate with his bombastic, arrogant behavior. It was so bad that even an old pol like Biden could win. I know Trump’s loss to Biden was controversial in the minds of his MAGA base, and that there were unfounded accusations about him, but he did lose and he lost because he was Trump. The vote was not so much pro-Biden as it was anti-Trump.

In that election Biden ran more or less as a centrist. In his inaugural speech he said, “I will be a president for all Americans. I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.” But when he took office he veered left, far left. What that tells me is that he was captured by or capitulated to his party’s Progressive Left who ran his policy. We can argue about the impact of the actions he took or legislation he supported, but it wasn’t centrist.

That is a problem for the Democrats. A recent post-debate poll (Wall Street Journal poll) said 70% of those polled thought the country was heading in the wrong direction. That is bad news for the Democrats. On the other hand, about half said they didn’t like either candidate. A further problem for the Democrats is that only 28% identified as “liberal,” 41% as “conservative,” and 29% as “moderate” (those caught in the middle who could go either way). 

This is the dilemma for the Democrats: the party has swung left. Even the New York Times has acknowledged this. If they put up a staunch liberal or Progressive, according to this poll, they will lose. If they want to beat Trump they need to put up a centrist. 

There are few centrist senators in the Democratic Party with some national recognition. The two most prominent are former Democrats but now Independent senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Centrist Senator Jon Tester of Montana is having a tough re-election fight and could lose his seat. This isn’t an endorsement, just a fact.

What a mess we are in. I find myself in the category of many voters, Republican and Democrat, in that I dislike both Trump and Biden. I don’t think they are good for the country for a variety of reasons. 

Trump is a loose cannon. Most of his policy statements are a re-hash of this 2020 campaign. As president he ran up huge deficits, was anti-free trade, promoted aggressive nationalism, threatened NATO, toadied up to Putin and Kim Jong Un, and demonized immigrants. And he lies constantly, which in my mind suggests a personality disorder.

If I were looking at our politics from afar, it would remind me of a banana republic. 

If the Democrats put up a rational, competent centrist for president, he or she would get my vote. Let’s hope rational minds prevail.