Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Saturday, July 29, 2023

This Again

 Yes, Joe Biden is old. He has a speech impediment and his gait reflects his age. I certainly understand why people would be concerned about his age, but as Josh Marshall points out, speculation about him not running is just stupid.

Biden has been a remarkably effective president, given the polarization of our country and the loss of control of the House. Given the wholesale obstruction of the GOP on a host of fronts - replacing Feinstein on the Judiciary, Tuberville holding up promotions, etc. - he's managed to sneak things through even the filibuster.

But, yeah, he's old. If the economic situation persists, he should be presiding over a booming economy, relative peace and most of all, he's not Donald Trump. Incumbents usually win, unless something awful happens or the party splits. (This is why the No Labels and RJK, Jr shit is worrisome.) What's more, Trump is almost as old as Biden, so it's not like Trump - whose brain is already Swiss cheese - can make a credible case on the issue of age. He will, I mean, he's Trump, but he looks like a boiled sack of meat.

Yes, I would be more comfortable if Biden's Vice President was more broadly liked than Kamala Harris, as she suffers from the same not-so-latent misogyny that Hillary Clinton did.

We are now about 14 months away from the election(!). Every data point suggests it will be Biden v Trump. If it is, and the economy is still humming along, I think Biden wins every state he did in 2020 plus North Carolina and maybe even Florida and Texas.

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