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Susan Young is the Bangor Daily News opinion editor.
Joe Biden is starting to sound a bit like Donald Trump to me. Not in the lying, bullying, wannabe autocratic way that characterizes Trump. But in the suggestion, made repeatedly during Biden’s Thursday’s evening press conference, that essentially only he can lead America. And, perhaps worse, in his rambling syntax that often ends in a confused jumble that has nothing to do with where he started.
Let me make something clear right off the bat: I am not equating Biden with Trump. Biden, for all his faults, is a decent human being who has dedicated his life to public service. Trump has shown himself to be driven only by self interest and ego. He used the presidency to empower himself and his sycophants. He doesn’t respect democratic norms, as evidenced by his interference in the 2020 presidential election and his continued assertions that the election was stolen from him. Trump has been convicted of 34 felony counts in connection with a hush money case involving a porn star. He faces additional felony charges for taking and refusing to return classified documents and for his election interference.
So, no, I don’t think Biden and Trump are equally bad. It’s not even close.
But I am concerned that Biden is becoming a bit Trumpian in his denial of something Americans can see with their own eyes: that his ability to lead the nation for another four years is an open question. It was readily evident in last month’s presidential debate and it was evident in Thursday’s press conference.
Biden did OK in Thursday’s press conference. But OK is not good enough for the leader of the free world. OK is not good enough in an election where the stakes are so high.
He gave some detailed and complex answers to questions about NATO, Ukraine and Israel and Gaza. But he also frequently repeated himself, lost his train of thought and made many verbal gaffes, including calling Vice President Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump.”
Biden and his team have done remarkable things. He guided the country through the COVID pandemic with appropriate caution and an emphasis on public health. He presided over one of the strongest post-pandemic economic recoveries in the world. Job growth has exceeded expectations and inflation has eased significantly, despite persistent public perceptions that the American economy is still struggling. He has returned the U.S. to essential efforts to combat climate change.
This and other work can continue with a different Democrat at the helm. Biden said numerous times Thursday that he wants to finish the job. That is admirable. But it becomes self aggrandizing when he suggests he is the only one who can finish the job.
It sounds an awful lot like Trump.
As Americans have practically begged for months, there should be a better choice than between Biden and Trump. The Democratic Party nationally deserves harsh blame for insulating Biden from real primary challengers, and for being in denial about Biden’s apparent decline.
The Republican Party deserves even harsher blame for closing ranks behind a candidate as morally bankrupt and as hostile to basic democratic norms as Trump. The GOP is also in denial about Trump’s apparent decline as evidenced by his increasingly incoherent verbal ramblings.
A moment that was largely overlooked in Thursday’s press conference, amid the numerous questions from reporters about Biden’s ability to continue his presidential campaign, was perhaps one of its most important. It was less a question than a statement, a warning even.
“Many people in Poland and across Europe are worried that the former president may win the election,” Polish Radio’s Washington correspondent Marek Wałkuski said after he was one of the nearly a dozen reporters called on by the president. “There’s a lot of concern that Donald Trump may weaken NATO, stop supporting Ukraine or push Ukraine to give up territories to Russia. … Do you think Europe will be left alone if Donald Trump wins the election?”
It was a bit of a layup of a question and it gave Biden another opportunity to tout his credentials and international support. But, to me, it was another reminder of the high stakes — for the world — of November’s election.
And, it was a reminder of why neither Trump nor Biden is our best choice for president. The Republican Party has shown it is incapable of stepping away from the most flawed and dangerous presidential candidate I have ever seen. But that doesn’t make it right for the Democratic Party leadership to continue to rally around Biden as the only choice as it becomes increasingly clear that he should humbly step aside, assured that he has done good work. That work can, and should, continue under someone capable of seeing it through for the next four years.