Hubris, denial and deceit

All we Democrats knew Joe Biden was a good man, but too old to run for a second term. When we saw his performance on the debate stage, it was a clear as day that he – as good a guy as he was and as good a job as he had done – simply no longer could function in the job of president.

Loss of stamina, stability, clarity, cogency become harder and harder to hide as we age. All the jogging and dieting of youth seem like they did not do their job in giving us the fountain of youth.

Listening to Jake Tapper’s new book, Original Sin, another word came to mind: betrayal. The stories Tapper reads are of a family and close circle of advisors who were doing all in their power to shield and protect Biden from criticism from the public. Transparency was absent. That lack of transparency turned to lie.

Biden had said when he ran in 2020, he would be a “bridge” to a new generation. He would encourage younger Democrats to get in the race, talk issues, create a platform and paint a vision of a new thing in America, where potential could be lived out, people could be who they are and love who they love. Where freedom of ideas, speech, and dreams could be lived in peace and acceptance. He never gave that a chance.

By 2022, in Tapper’s reporting, Biden was failing in his ability to string together thoughts and sentences. He was only able to function fully a few hours a day. He ran down at sundown. For his physicals in his first two years, there was no cognitive testing. But the frailty was beginning to show in falling off his bike and stumbling up the steps to Air Force One.

He would get flustered and angry when people pointed out his missteps, miscues, misidentification of even his closest advisors and even George Clooney! Everything was not alright and his team was covering up his problems -  until they couldn’t.

Dr. Jill Biden was his greatest cheerleader. She would sit in meetings with the president, sometimes finishing his sentences. The Cabinet could see it, as could reporters in the Oval Office pressers.

By the time of the June debate, it was too late for Democrats to conduct any kind of meaningful candidate selection. Too little time for primaries. By July, Vice President Kamala Harris was almost anointed the successor candidate.

She was a very good candidate, qualified, smart, personable, but most anybody would have had a tough time winning against the MAGA machine that had been honing their game since 2015, never acknowledging Biden’s election win in 2020.

Truth be told, I would have voted for anybody who ran against Donald Trump. He is not the good man Joe Biden is on his worst day. I see the destruction that is taking place daily and think about how America has changed in just a little more than 100 days. We may never be trusted in the world again.

The incompetence of the Cabinet, coupled with the failures of leadership, have set us on a path of destroying our Democracy and simply giving everything from schools to finances to sycophants and billionaires. Yes, men and yes, women – all of whom look alike in their sheath dresses and botoxed lips will rule the world.

Tapper’s book may be a turning point in Democratic circles that feel glad that somebody finally is telling the truth about what happened and what should have happened in the election of 2024. Both Democrats and Republicans let us down. We may lose America because of it.

It is pride that keeps us in places of power beyond our time. We love the game and keep convincing ourselves that all is okay. All was not okay – in either the Democratic Party or a Republican Party that would elect an authoritarian who leads them around by the nose.

Tapper goes through a list of those who have stayed too long at the fair. Diane Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnel, Chuck Schumer, Chuck Grassley and the list could go on and on. Somebody called the Congress “a retirement home for Senior Citizens.”

There comes a point when we all need to reckon with the changes that come to all of us as we age. It is possible to embrace aging, walk gently with it, and simply go with the flow. I am thankful for everyday and will not let pride control my life. And we should look around us to see the talented and gifted young people who are ready to take the mantle.

I pray healing for Joe Biden as he faces this newest challenge. Sorry Tapper’s book came out just before the diagnosis of cancer. Sometimes hubris and denial work against us. Deceit always catches up with us. If we love the hope of the American dream we, Republicans and Democrats, need to get it together to sustain it.

Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist and host of the blogsite www.avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com