Sometimes the risk of staying the course is greater than changing the course. Here’s how I’m thinking about the choice Democrats have to make, and the consequences for 2024 and beyond.
Great read. I was on the fence after the debate. Then I recalled how out of place Biden looked at the parachute review in Europe, where world leaders were gathered. He looked a little bit baffled, with mouth agape. He moved slowly. He just looked old, and not in a benign way. My heart sank at the debate just watching his somewhat tentative walk to the podium. It didn't bode well, and things just got worse from there, as we all know. What should have been a slam dunk against a raving lunatic and fascist turned out to be a disaster for Democrats. My concern is that Biden will continue to have events or situations where he looks old, frail and not completely with it. No amount of rousing speeches or shows of strength will counter those bad moments. I've come to the conclusion that the risks of choosing someone else are outweighed by keeping Biden at the head of the ticket. Heck, even Biden resigning as soon as possible and letting Harris take over sounds better than hoping for a miracle from Biden. So much of the future of the world rests on this election. A changed narrative and the excitement of an alternative (and not a wacky alternative like RFK) to Biden and Trump could energize a lot of Democrats and independents.
This certainly a predicament for the Democratic Party as well as for the country generally and the prospects for a good resolution do not seem favorable at the moment. Dropping Biden from the ticket may be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire, but then neither alternative is that good.
But standing back a bit from this immediate problem, imagine how different things would be if we enjoyed a vibrant multiple-party system. With three or perhaps five or six viable candidate in the race there would surely be some better alternatives. And it would be unlikely that we would have a Supreme Court like the one we now have.
Good job. This sums it up better than anything else I've read, and it isn't easy. It's a complicated mess, and our real options have been dwindling as one party went increasingly nuts and the other got compromised as a matter of political survival and necessity, though I think Democrats should have staked out the 'responsible government' ground along the way, just as you have to tell a self-destructive adolescent things they can't hear hoping they'll survive long enough to come around and realize the old man wasn't a complete idiot.
If Democrats had provided an intelligible narrative about what Republicans were doing and what it would result in people might remember it now and be mad at the people who actually screwed them instead of falling for the usual devastating scapegoating that accompanies a serious social decline. If, if if .... It has been a game of inches with Republicans capitalizing on minuscule victories and stolen elections while Democrats blow massive chances, not seeing that the other side is actually as nuts as they appear. Too late on that one.
The cards are badly stacked.
I disagree with the people who say we've been through this before and it always works out. I think it might be different this time and it makes me sad as hell. America was a miracle for my family, as it was for so many others, in spite of all the horrible things we did at the macro level. And it makes me especially sad so many of those leading the charge into authoritarianism are from this group -- those for whom immigration was salvation for their families. Notably, the conservatives on the Supreme Court with Catholic roots.
I'm convinced they don't see what they bought into. It's as primal in motivation as it is well rationalized. I speak this shit, having had a very old-fashioned education by Jesuits, and it's a monstrous rejection of the elements of the tradition that count, the good stuff, and an embracing of the worst -- the institutional part -- a blind craving for authority out of fear and a defense of the ways of the Roman Empire that doomed it, and all empires, to dissolution.
Great read. I was on the fence after the debate. Then I recalled how out of place Biden looked at the parachute review in Europe, where world leaders were gathered. He looked a little bit baffled, with mouth agape. He moved slowly. He just looked old, and not in a benign way. My heart sank at the debate just watching his somewhat tentative walk to the podium. It didn't bode well, and things just got worse from there, as we all know. What should have been a slam dunk against a raving lunatic and fascist turned out to be a disaster for Democrats. My concern is that Biden will continue to have events or situations where he looks old, frail and not completely with it. No amount of rousing speeches or shows of strength will counter those bad moments. I've come to the conclusion that the risks of choosing someone else are outweighed by keeping Biden at the head of the ticket. Heck, even Biden resigning as soon as possible and letting Harris take over sounds better than hoping for a miracle from Biden. So much of the future of the world rests on this election. A changed narrative and the excitement of an alternative (and not a wacky alternative like RFK) to Biden and Trump could energize a lot of Democrats and independents.
This certainly a predicament for the Democratic Party as well as for the country generally and the prospects for a good resolution do not seem favorable at the moment. Dropping Biden from the ticket may be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire, but then neither alternative is that good.
But standing back a bit from this immediate problem, imagine how different things would be if we enjoyed a vibrant multiple-party system. With three or perhaps five or six viable candidate in the race there would surely be some better alternatives. And it would be unlikely that we would have a Supreme Court like the one we now have.
Good job. This sums it up better than anything else I've read, and it isn't easy. It's a complicated mess, and our real options have been dwindling as one party went increasingly nuts and the other got compromised as a matter of political survival and necessity, though I think Democrats should have staked out the 'responsible government' ground along the way, just as you have to tell a self-destructive adolescent things they can't hear hoping they'll survive long enough to come around and realize the old man wasn't a complete idiot.
If Democrats had provided an intelligible narrative about what Republicans were doing and what it would result in people might remember it now and be mad at the people who actually screwed them instead of falling for the usual devastating scapegoating that accompanies a serious social decline. If, if if .... It has been a game of inches with Republicans capitalizing on minuscule victories and stolen elections while Democrats blow massive chances, not seeing that the other side is actually as nuts as they appear. Too late on that one.
The cards are badly stacked.
I disagree with the people who say we've been through this before and it always works out. I think it might be different this time and it makes me sad as hell. America was a miracle for my family, as it was for so many others, in spite of all the horrible things we did at the macro level. And it makes me especially sad so many of those leading the charge into authoritarianism are from this group -- those for whom immigration was salvation for their families. Notably, the conservatives on the Supreme Court with Catholic roots.
I'm convinced they don't see what they bought into. It's as primal in motivation as it is well rationalized. I speak this shit, having had a very old-fashioned education by Jesuits, and it's a monstrous rejection of the elements of the tradition that count, the good stuff, and an embracing of the worst -- the institutional part -- a blind craving for authority out of fear and a defense of the ways of the Roman Empire that doomed it, and all empires, to dissolution.