On July 24, President Biden told the nation, “Over the past few weeks, He put aside his “personal ambitions” in order to “save our democracy.”
Indeed, since Biden dropped out of the race, many pundits and Democratic leaders have gushed about his selflessness. But rather than hailing him as a modern-day Cincinnatus, we should celebrate him in a more human way.
In truth, he should have stepped a year ago. Instead, his decision to run put the democracy he loves at risk and denied the party he loves a real choice. And then, when all seemed lost, facing rejection and possibly a humiliating defeat, he did something amazing: he let go. Just before it was truly too late.
Why did this happen? A bridge to the future Why was he keeping his door closed? It’s all human. He’d beaten Donald Trump once and had a generally impressive term. He thought he could and should do it again.
We all create myths to tell ourselves and others the story of our lives — a story that advances our purposes, aspirations and ambitions. So it’s not surprising that Biden’s myths have sprung up in the wake of his debate debacle.
The first myth was that Joe Biden “saved” us from Trump. In fact, Trump was a very weakened candidate in 2020. Hampered by the COVID pandemic and his tragically failed response, a plummeting economy, and just being Trump. Many of the top Democratic candidates could have beaten him that year.
But that myth inevitably led to the second myth: that because he beat Trump before, he’s the best person to beat him again. But according to Gallup, data going back months, even years, shows that his approval rating among independents is Since August 2021, it has only topped 40% once. — showed that while it’s possible to win, it’s also entirely possible not to.
And then the debate disaster and his response happened.”Even if you get knocked down, get up!” he said to reassure us, but in reality revealed how much his stubbornness was driven by personal ambition. This is far removed from the game plan needed to defeat democracy, in which he declared Trump an “existential threat.”
The third myth is “The elites” and “big donors” wanted him out of the raceand believed he was the one chosen by Democratic voters. The majority of people I know, like me, are not elites, many of them small donors. We like and respect Biden, but we didn’t think he would be a viable candidate, and we wanted other realistic options, which were not allowed. Polling after polling shows that many, sometimes most, other rank-and-file Democrats think exactly the same way.
This myth is doubly ironic: It was Biden, the leader of the elites, who ensured there was no real choice in this year’s primaries, and it was these same elites who conspired in 2020 to clear the field for Biden and deny Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) any chance of winning the nomination.
One final myth has been simmering in the background: If Barack Obama hadn’t liked Hillary Clinton, Biden, not Trump, would have been elected president in 2016.
Biden probably would have beaten Trump that year, but with Clinton and Sanders in the running, he never would have won the nomination. Whether intentionally or not, Obama saved Biden from the ignominy of losing his party’s renomination again, this time as the sitting vice president.
So what do we owe Joe Biden? A lot. He certainly beat Trump and did a very good job overall as president. But we also owe him, and ourselves, the respect of seeing him as he really is. He is a decent human being, intelligent, compassionate, and competent. But like us, he is prone to weaknesses and failings. One of his weaknesses is his “personal ambition” to remain president, and he waited a very long time to set that aside.
In many of these things, Biden is no better or worse than most of us, just in areas of very different outcomes. We can say that with confidence. At a critical moment, Biden did what needed to be done. And it was very hard. And for that, I’m grateful. We’ll soon see if it was enough.
Thomas S. De Luca Jr. He is a professor of political science at Fordham University.
