Biden Drops Out

This is a bad take that only looks worse in retrospect. The vibe shift is unmatched in living memory. In 24 hours the party went from prostrate, despairing, paralyzed to united, energized, hopeful.

Anecdotally, my dad is a Democratic county committee member, and he told me had been "frozen" since the debate, unable to donate or campaign, but that Biden stepping aside had swept all that away.
That it's turning out well is good. That it happened because democrats are scared of looking bad, but not just looking bad, but fearing that others will think others will think it looks bad therefore... is one of the fundamental weaknesses of the American left half. In this case the problem and solution have so far appeared one and the same, so we celebrate that it isn't a collapse but a rejuvination.

But it needn't have been a rejuvenation as there needn't have been hesitance, there needn't have been people afraid of being made fun of for supporting Biden in spite of a bad performance.

No one lost steam because he was a bad president.
 
oh jeepers...These are not ADA-level accommodations that staffers are adhering to; the guy can't even go on a trip without feeling winded for days afterwards.
FDR ran WW2 and the US economy from a wheelchair while he was dying. Presidents do not work alone. They have huge staffs and advisors who support their decisions. FDR suffered from
Guillain–Barré syndrome, or less likely, polio, for the last 25 or so years of his life. FDR's illness mostly hidden from the public; nowadays, such things are much harder to hide. The point is that presidents do not have to do everything by themselves.
 
That it's turning out well is good. That it happened because democrats are scared of looking bad, but not just looking bad, but fearing that others will think others will think it looks bad therefore... is one of the fundamental weaknesses of the American left half. In this case the problem and solution have so far appeared one and the same, so we celebrate that it isn't a collapse but a rejuvination.

But it needn't have been a rejuvenation as there needn't have been hesitance, there needn't have been people afraid of being made fun of for supporting Biden in spite of a bad performance.

No one lost steam because he was a bad president.

I agree Biden has been the best domestic President since like LBJ but in the kind of society that you and I want to build, Gaza will vastly overshadow that. Biden is even going to be hated by whatever Zionists survive the collapse of Israel because he failed to restrain it from acting on its worst and most self-destructive instincts.

Aside from that, simply recognizing reality is no weakness. The most reputable pollster in Michigan had him losing the state by 9 points on the Friday before dropout weekend, 17 points behind where he was running at the same time in 2020. What would have been a real disaster was running Biden into a landslide defeat and then gaslighting everyone about it ("he lost because you didn't support him hard enough!!")
 
With so many accomplishments and so much at stake, why is he stepping down?
Because he looks vulnerable. That's about it. Beside Trump he looks old and frail. Trump gaffes every bit as much, but looks like he could polish of a full plate of stake and fries and take a hearty dump while bellowing streams of instructions and insults to his underlings, where Biden looks like he would just fart dust.

Presidents should look hearty like that – like old Theodore Rosevelt, who got shot in the chest by a dude in the crowd while holding a public meeting. He concluded that the bullet had been slowed by his notebook and stuff, and since he wasn't coughing up blood it had not penetrated the lung. And so Rosevelt deemed himself OK, told the crowed not to rough up the shooter too badly, and finished his speech, before seeking medical attention.

But now that Biden has decided not to run, he gets to play the role of wise Elder Statesman opening the road for the new generation. And suddenly all the doddering old-man stuff kind of works well for the role.
 
Teddy was still the ~2nd best we've had
 
Because he looks vulnerable. That's about it.
The question was a little disingenuous on my part: he didn’t answer why exactly he was bowing (maybe forced) out of the race, instead talking about how great a job he is doing, and how critical this election is.

I want to know, genuinely, what his thoughts are on this whole thing. He had the chance to tell us, and he didn’t.
 
old Theodore Rosevelt, who got shot in the chest by a dude in the crowd while holding a public meeting. He concluded that the bullet had been slowed by his notebook and stuff, and since he wasn't coughing up blood it had not penetrated the lung. And so Rosevelt deemed himself OK, told the crowed not to rough up the shooter too badly, and finished his speech, before seeking medical attention.
By the way, for everyone who regards Trump's fist-pump photo as iconic of his heroic status, we should keep in mind that it's a distant second in the "presidential responses to an assassination attempt" category.
 
By the way, for everyone who regards Trump's fist-pump photo as iconic of his heroic status, we should keep in mind that it's a distant second in the "presidential responses to an assassination attempt" category.

Teddy going on to give a short speech after being shot, with said bullet in his chest, is more impressive on substance, but the combination of blood + defiance + "FIGHT!" + the American flag is platinum-level optics. Call it a distance second if you will. :lol:
 
Just so. Optics vs heroics.
 
The question was a little disingenuous on my part: he didn’t answer why exactly he was bowing (maybe forced) out of the race, instead talking about how great a job he is doing, and how critical this election is.

I want to know, genuinely, what his thoughts are on this whole thing. He had the chance to tell us, and he didn’t.
Maybe he will eventually. Writing the memoires is kind of what ex presidents do.

Word is he is seething, feels absolutely betrayed and sold out also by people he trusted.

But there are bigger stakes involved, and game to catch than nurse an old-man ego. And it seems unlike Trump – who is All Ego, All The Time – Biden gets that.
 
ish.

The national parks truly are a treasure.
 
Who's your top 3-5, out of curiosity?
 
I think this is the crux. Yes they will settle on things that resonate with their base, but will that resonation, whatever it ends up being, come out sounding reasonable to a normal person? I think this was a big failing the Rs had in 2022. They chose to rally around mandatory genital inspectors in every bathroom and forcing pregnant people to pay for funeral services for their miscarriages and it just sounds deranged. It's too online, it weirds people out.
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As I said:
 
Trump is showing his age and limitations. Bad decisions on tone, message, this past week.
Who's your top 3-5, out of curiosity?
Gotta clip in FDR, I usually put in Eisenhower for the Cross of Iron mentality that demilitarized the economy in the face of Cold War militarization, and let's have the 5th place float. I probably need to include Jackson for the first poor people voting but... ****ing Jackson. Ew.
 
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