Joe Biden Is A Great American
President Joe Biden withdrew his re-election bid and endorsed Kamala Harris. This was a patriotic and selfless decision. Joe Biden has been a great president and a great American. I have deep admiration for him as an elected official and a person. History will treat him well.
Biden outsmarted the Republicans again. He didn’t withdraw until after the GOP nominated an elderly, convicted felon. Trump is the oldest nominee in history. Trump would be 83 at the end of his term. America can’t risk a president that old.
We will be forever grateful to Biden for saving the country from Trump. Many people have forgotten that Biden inherited a nation in crisis from Trump. There was an out of control pandemic, 10 million Americans had lost their jobs, 12 million Americans lost insurance, 8 million Americans fell into poverty and the annual deficit increased from $585 billion to $3.1 trillion.
When Trump “left office, the murder rate was higher, drug overdose deaths had increased, and the abortion rate had gone up for the first time in decades. America was more bitterly divided, and deficits increased each year of his presidency. His early Covid lies helped fuel an immense amount of confusion and almost certainly cost American lives. And his entire sorry term was capped by a violent insurrection fueled by an avalanche of lies.” David French.
By many measures, we are much better off now than we were four years ago. America is in currently the midst of a historic economic recovery.
206,000 new jobs added in May.
Women’s employment rate hit another high.
30 straight months of unemployment rate at or below 4.1 %.
Wages up 4.1% over past year, faster than 3.4% inflation.
Unemployment remains at historical lows.
15.7 million jobs created under Biden administration.
For reference, average job growth was around 170,000 per month in 2019 so job growth around 250,000 per month (50 percent above the pre-pandemic average) is much better than convicted felon Trump.
The prime age labor force participation rate has been growing rapidly since 2020 and is now the highest in over 20 years.
Biden is the most legislatively successful president since Lyndon Johnson. He passed the American Rescue Act, the Bi-Partisan Infrastructure Act, expanded veteran’s benefits, the Micro Chips Act , the Inflation Reduction Act, marriage equality and gun safety legislation. He passed most of these bills with bi-partisan support.
In the area of foreign policy, Biden has rallied the world to save Ukraine and has expanded NATO. Similarly, Biden organized an international coalition to protect Israel from an Iranian missile attack. He has been one of the best foreign policy presidents in the post World War II era.
Kamala Harris is the best person to carry on Biden’s legacy and finish the job. She announced her candidacy for the presidency shortly after Biden’s announcement and endorsement. Biden was joined in his endorsement of Harris by 180 members of Congress, 12 governors, two key union leaders, several state delegations to the Democratic National Convention and all 50 state Democratic party chairs. On July 21, Kamala Harris and the Democrats set a one day record by raising over $70 million. There is real enthusiasm for her candidacy.
There has been talk from some of the pundits about a mini-primary and an open convention. I don’t expect any serious rivals to throw their hat in the ring. In any event, a contested nomination fight could be bitter and divisive. Democrats don’t have that luxury right now. We need to focus on Trump as soon as possible. We don’t need several more weeks of “Democrats in disarray” stories in the mainstream media. Enough.
The Vice President deserves a clear path to the nomination and a harmonious convention in Chicago. As the nominee, Harris would inherit the excellent campaign infrastructure that has been built by the Biden-Harris campaign team. It would be a smooth transition. A different nominee would start with no money and no voter turnout machine. Early voting starts in September.
Harris has been tested at the national level as Biden’s running mate and vice president. That means she has already been vetted. Her service as vice president makes her the best qualified person to be president.
Harris has endured a lot of unfair, bad press since she has been vice president. The history of the position is that vice presidents usually receive bad press. For example, Newsweek called George H.W. Bush a “wimp” in 1987 even though he was a war hero. In addition, some of the GOP’s criticism of Harris is based upon race and gender.
The Vice President has significantly raised her game during the last three and a half years. Harris would be a strong nominee and could beat Donald Trump. She did well in her debate in 2020 against Mike Pence and could prosecute the case against Trump.
“Observing Harris last week, I could see the extent of her political maturation since her first year in office, when withering and often baseless criticism dominated coverage. Her delivery is crisp and authoritative. She appears relaxed, confident and centered in formal and informal settings. And she appears to relish taking on bullies. She can draw on not only three years of experience as vice president but 20 years or so as a prosecutor. “There are very few things I do now that I have not done over [that time],” she told me, pointing to a career that’s ranged from working as a line prosecutor to running the San Francisco agency for abused and neglected children to serving as California Attorney General and then its senator.
Certainly, since Dobbs, she has been channeling anxious righteous anger and wielding a sharper message, acting as the most active and effective administration voice on the subject. To mark Dobbs’s second anniversary, the administration unsurprisingly has put her front and center. She has never been under any illusion that the court would stop at abortion.
As is true with the entire campaign, the voters most enthusiastic about Harris are those who are most engaged. Now, the campaign must ensure the entire electorate gets to see what those watching her up close have observed: a formidable candidate.” Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post.
After the Biden-Trump debate, David Axelrod told his Republican colleagues on a CNN panel to be careful what they wish for. Axelrod knows Harris and understands that she would be a strong candidate.
“I just wanna say one thing, especially to you two guys,” David Axelrod said on CNN while addressing Republican strategists Scott Jennings and David Urban after the debate. “If for whatever reason there’s a change at the top of the ticket, you guys are in trouble with Donald Trump because the guy who was up there tonight is not a guy who’s going to inspire people. He did not show in any way that he has changed. What I said was, if Joe Biden were not the candidate, if there was another candidate, I think Donald Trump would be in deep trouble.”
Ever since convicted felon Trump’s upset victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, the GOP and the mainstream press have treated him as some kind of savant who has his finger firmly on the pulse of public opinion. The press continues to treat Trump as invincible and is addicted to the false narrative that the Democrats are doomed.
The reality is that Trump and MAGA are overrated by the polls and the elite pundits. The history of the Trump era clearly demonstrates that Trump and the MAGA Republican movement are stone cold losers.
Trump has never once gotten more votes than his political opponent. Ever. And under his stewardship, the Republican Party has had historic electoral defeats in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023. The Democratic winning streak has continued into 2024.
“When we’re running against the generic Republican, our races are always really close, but there’s no such thing…These guys are weird. Once they start running, their weirdness shows up.” Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota.
“When people go vote and have to make a real choice between MAGA and better alternatives, MAGA melts and loses ground. The ugliness of MAGA makes it too hard for many people to go there.” Simon Rosenberg
The stakes in this election couldn’t be any higher. As Abraham Lincoln said in his immortal Gettysburg Address: “…that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Joe Biden will forever be recognized as a selfless patriot and hero who put the country’s future over his own personal ambitions. Let’s vindicate Biden’s decision by electing Harris.
Be confident going forward. Take nothing for granted. Keep working hard.
It’s America or convicted felon Trump. Choose wisely.