http://nypost.com/2024/07/23/opinion/bidens-secretive-withdrawal-reveals-the-democrats-weakness/
By Joe Concha
The New York Post
July 23, 2024
President Biden’s decision on Sunday afternoon to withdraw from the 2024 race should have turned the page on his presidency without much ambiguity.
Instead, it has revealed in broad daylight the central themes of this presidential election.
First theme: Strength versus weakness.
Former President Donald Trump is shot in the ear and comes within a millimeter of losing his life to an assassin; arrives at the Republican National Convention to thunderous applause two days later. Meanwhile, Biden tests positive for COVID; disappears entirely for nearly a week as he remains in isolation.
Second theme: Transparency versus secrecy and incompetence.
The Biden administration has been anything but transparent. Or truthful. Or reassuring that they’re running the country competently.
Think about it: Here we have the sitting president and commander-in-chief of our armed forces doing something that no president has done in 55 years since Lyndon Baines Johnson, announcing that he will not seek a second term.
But Biden’s announcement is done on social media — issued only in writing. There’s no video or audio. And the statement isn’t even printed on White House stationery.
This was on Sunday. And as of late Monday afternoon, we had yet to see or hear from the president directly.
The president did call in to Kamala Harris’ visit to campaign headquarters in Delaware on Monday, but didn’t appear on video — and took no questions from reporters or anyone else.
And he has yet to explain exactly why he suddenly decided to step down.
Is it a mental issue? Does he have Parkinson’s? Is it some other condition we’re not aware of?
Biden was set to return to the White House Tuesday afternoon, but had no public appearances — no press conference or any event — scheduled, until word came down that he’ll finally address the nation Wednesday night.
With zero transparency, all we’re left with is speculation and a lengthening list of questions.
Meanwhile, Harris attended two official events on Monday.
The first honored NCAA championship teams at the White House, at which the VP — of course — couldn’t be bothered to answer any questions from reporters.
Afterward, she was off to Delaware to visit campaign staffers in Wilmington.
Again, she took zero questions at a time when the American people deserve to hear from the freshly anointed Democratic candidate-to-be.
In a related story, never once has Harris held a press conference on domestic soil as a presidential candidate or as vice president. For context, Mike Pence held multiple press conferences during his time as VP.
Therein lies the rub: Harris has almost no experience handling questions outside of handpicked, friendly reporters, at the rare times she responds to any questions at all.
We all know why: Like Biden, her brain often malfunctions when a script in a teleprompter is not available.
Example: When asked why she hadn’t visited the US southern border, here’s how that went.
“You haven’t been to the border,” NBC’s Lester Holt said in a 2021 interview.
“And I haven’t been to Europe,” she shot back. “And I mean, I don’t … understand the point that you’re making.”
While addressing reporters in August 2023, here’s what she had to say about the importance of investing in community banks.
“And so for years we have worked to expand investment in community banks because, you see, community banks specialize in providing loans and financial assistance to small business owners, in particular those in overlooked and underserved communities,” she said. “And as the name suggests, community banks are in the community.”
Oh boy …
To that end, expect the exact strategy Biden’s handlers applied to Joe for Kamala: a homogenized, choreographed pseudo-campaign with almost zero media accessibility, other than to “reporters” who will play ball beforehand.
Again, it’s about strength versus weakness. If Harris ends up being largely hidden from the press, that looks decidedly weak.
Given all of this in aggregate, the obvious question that the press should be asking is this: If Biden, supposedly by his own admission, is incapable of serving the next four years from January 2025 to January 2029, how does anyone think he should be in office for the next 180-plus days until Inauguration Day?
Another obvious question: How could Democrats ever possibly say that they are the protectors of democracy when the party’s powerbrokers just forced a sitting president to drop out of his re-election race purely because they think he can’t win?
Here’s a stat: Despite now being a presidential candidate twice, Kamala Harris has yet to receive one vote from any Democratic voter in a presidential primary.
Yet here she is as the party’s likely nominee.
That’s democracy for you.
It’s looking like the 2024 election will come down to Trump versus Harris.
Democrats hope this Hail Mary will be caught for the game-winning score.
But the result could end up being worse than if Biden had stayed in the race. Much worse.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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