“I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.”
The Democratic Party made a big mistake eight years ago and America had to pay for it.
Still paying, in fact.
In fact, they might be about to make another mistake that will take our country back into the same horror show.
There is literally no way Donald Trump should have been elected president in 2016. To most of America, Trump was a clown. He was a guy who bragged about his sexual prowess to the media, a man who claimed to be richer than he actually was, a dude with hair that looked like cxotton candy.
Two words describe how Trump won the election.
Vladimir Putin?
Good guess, but while he might have been a contributing factor, there was a much bigger reason than Russian interference.
Ah, you mean …
That’s right, Hillary Clinton.
Don’t get me wrong. I think Clinton would have been a far better president than Trump. I voted for her.
But while there were millions of Democrats, most of them women, who had their hearts set on Clinton becoming president, there was no one on the Democratic side of the equation that Republicans hated as much as her.
That meant there were people who would never have voted for Trump who did because they sa Clinton as evil and Trump as just another politician.
It also meant people who wouldn’t have voted at all went out and voted for Trump.
As much as I hate to say it, there were certainly people who — after two terms of an African-American president followed by a female nominee — were wondering if the Democrats would ever nominate another white guy.
I have no doubt that Joe Biden would have defeated Trump in 2016 and would be finishing his second term now. Trump would be nothing but a footnote to political history.
Instead, Biden may be the greatest reason we have to fear Trump’s return to the White House.
The last four successful Democratic nominees before Biden — not including Lyndon Johnson, who ran as an incumbent — were young. John Kennedy was 43, Jimmy Carter 52, Bill Clinton 46 and Barack Obama 47.
Joe Biden was 78 in 2020. He’ll be 82 on election day this year and 86 if he completes a second term.
That’s too old.
I would vote for him against Trump, but I would be relatively certain that someone else would be president by the end of the term.
I think Biden has been a very good president, but I think the best thing he could do now is step aside for a younger nominee. That shouldn’t automatically be the vice president, but Kamala Harris should be among those considered. Governors like Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Gavin Newsom of California or Andy Beshear of Kentucky would be possibilities or Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
It’s too late to do that the regular way, but party leaders could get together before the convention and decide.
Of course, that would require that the Democrats be organized.