OK, I've got some mixed feelings here. I want our 2024 election to have
a viable and capable Presidential candidate from both parties.
(And, yeah, I think Nikki Haley,, or perhaps Tim Scott will be fine.)
So, I happily look farward to a debate, where Nikki Haley shows
the majority of American voters that she is ready and the best.
But of available Dems,,,, as far as domestic issues, Biden is about
the least bad choice. He somewhat moderates the stupid over left Dems.
But if there comes a international sudden threat, I will worry.

Premium
Shocker: Biden's favorite WaPo reporter says he should not run for
re-election
KAREN TOWNSEND 10:41 AM on September 13, 2023

Shocker: Biden's favorite WaPo reporter says he should not run for
re-electionNhac Nguyen/Pool Photo via AP

Washington Post associate editor and reporter David Ignatius is said to
be one of Joe Biden’s favorite reporters. That opinion may have changed.
Tuesday night WaPo published an op-ed written by Ignatius that argues
Joe Biden should NOT run for re-election. That op-ed was a shocker.

Ignatius is no spring chicken himself. He’s 73 so he knows about getting
older and continuing to work. As I read his piece, all I could think
was, if Biden has lost Ignatius, and therefore the Washington Post, he’s
in deeper do-do than I though. My goodness. The Washington Post is
counted on by Democrat administrations to play cheerleader and run cover
for them and the Biden administration is no different. WaPo has ignored
the Biden crime family stories as much as any other publication.

Don’t get me wrong – the op-ed is full of compliments for Joe Biden and
how he has governed. Ignatius describes Biden as a successful president
who has many legislative victories to his credit. Perhaps most
importantly, Biden saved America from a second Trump term in office, you
know. Biden campaigned on returning to “regular order,” Ignatius wrote. Ugh.

Since then, Biden has had a remarkable string of wins. He defeated
President Donald Trump in the 2020 election; he led a Democratic rebuff
of Trump’s acolytes in the 2022 midterms; his Justice Department has
systematically prosecuted the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection that Trump
championed and, now, through special counsel Jack Smith, the department
is bringing Trump himself to justice.

What I admire most about President Biden is that in a polarized
nation, he has governed from the center out, as he promised in his
victory speech. With an unexpectedly steady hand, he passed some of the
most important domestic legislation in recent decades. In foreign
policy, he managed the delicate balance of helping Ukraine fight Russia
without getting America itself into a war. In sum, he has been a
successful and effective president.

Double ugh. Democrats clearly live in a different world than the rest of
us. Steady hand? Nothing about Biden is steady. He can’t even handle
himself smoothly on a stage or in public. He leads from behind, as he
did when Putin invaded Ukraine. He was extremely slow to make any
decisions and let the European countries like France take the lead.
Plus, Joe Biden is the most divisive president in my lifetime, which I
used to say about Barack Obama. But I think Biden is worse.

After the glowing remarks, Ignatius writes that despite all the good
things, he and Kamala should not run for re-election. He said if Biden
campaigns with Kamala, they run the risk of handing Trump a victory in
2024. Ignatius calls “stopping Trump” Biden’s biggest achievement, so
it’s important. He notes that Biden’s time in office, serving the
country, has come to an end. He noted that Biden’s advanced age isn’t
just a “Fox News trope” but that everyone is talking about his age.
Yikes! It is so unusual that someone like Ignatius lets it all come to
the surface and deliver a dose of reality to his man that it is shocking
when it happens. This is Biden’s wake-up call.

Biden reads WaPo every day. He’ll see this op-ed from one of his
favorite reporters. What will he do? Will he get on the phone and talk
to Ignatius? Will he ignore it publicly?

One point Ignatius makes is that voters will focus on Kamala during
their re-election campaign, though normally voters are not too concerned
about vice presidential candidates. He admits that Kamala is even less
popular than Biden. He goes into an odd ramble about “a more open
vice-presidential selection process”, as though Biden will dump Kamala
and start a fresh search for a running mate. There is no way Biden will
do that. Biden is beholden to black women and Kamala is their trophy.
Ignatius mentions Karen Bass, the black Democrat who is mayor of Los
Angeles and a former member of Congress. She was rumored to be on
Biden’s short list in 2020. However, exactly how would Biden pull that
off? Ignatius ends up admitting it would be a free-for-all and make
Biden’s standing with voters even worse.

Most importantly, Ignatius says the quiet part out loud. Biden is
running because Trump is running. It’s the same reason he ran in 2020.
It’s all about stopping Trump. That is Biden’s sole motivation.

Biden’s just a man who can’t say no, you see.

Biden has never been good at saying no. He should have resisted the
choice of Harris, who was a colleague of his beloved son Beau when they
were both state attorneys general. He should have blocked then-House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which has done considerable
damage to the island’s security. He should have stopped his son Hunter
from joining the board of a Ukrainian gas company and representing
companies in China — and he certainly should have resisted Hunter’s
attempts to impress clients by getting Dad on the phone.

Biden has another chance to say no — to himself, this time — by
withdrawing from the 2024 race. It might not be in character for Biden,
but it would be a wise choice for the country.

Ignatius goes off the rails when he mentions the new book out about
Biden, “The Last Politician,” an account of the Biden presidency. The
author says Biden “will be remembered as the old hack who could.” Nice
spin but at least half of the country won’t remember him that way. Even
a majority of Democrats don’t want Biden to run for re-election. Biden
isn’t “more focused and strategic.” He doesn’t “execute policies
systematically, at home and abroad.” C’mon, man.

Ignatius ends by saying time is running out for Biden to leave the race.
However, he never addresses what happens next. There is no back-up plan,
there is no Plan B with the Biden campaign. Democrats refuse to allow
their voters to have a primary this cycle. They have shut out Biden’s
main challenger, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and refused to allow Biden to
debate him, even though RFK, Jr. often polls at 20%, which would be a
problem for the Democrat in a tight race. Common wisdom is that the 2024
presidential election will be another close one. Both parties need every
vote they can find.

The dam is breaking. This op-ed from Ignatius is proof of that.
Democrats are looking for a way to get rid of Biden and Harris but there
is no graceful way to do that. Gavin Newsom is ready and willing to step
up but Democrats haven’t figured out how to make that work yet. RFK, Jr.
is sticking around, too. Democrats wanted Biden in 2020 because he was
going to be the safe candidate, the one who would keep the status quo
for Democrats. Now, after he has proven so inept and feeble, they are
stuck with him