Here’s a point I made way back in the 2020 primaries: Joe Biden’s age also means he has the most experience of any candidate, at a time when our country was crumbling under the weight of Trump’s corruption, which had trickled down into every department and indeed, around the country in state’s as well.
The Houston Chronicle Editorial Board is endorsing President Joe Biden, citing the leadership “of the oldest and arguably the most experienced president in American history,” writing,”the team in the White House for the past three years has performed remarkably well, despite the rancor and divisiveness that have afflicted this nation for nearly a decade.”
They point to Biden’s dedication to governing, “The accomplishments of an administration dedicated to governing, one that believes in the power of government to make life better for the American people, is a key reason we heartily endorse the reelection of President Joe Biden. The other reason, equally important, is to fend off the chaos, corruption and danger to the nation that would accompany the return of Donald Trump to the White House.
This point is one that you might miss were you were watching cable news or reading the New York Times. The seriousness and weight of the job of a president seems to have been tossed out of the window in favor of an entertainer to make money for the elites, and perhaps this explains the unwillingness to emphasize in any meaningful way Biden’s economic policies.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
After all, it dawned on me yesterday while covering just one of those policies, that they prioritize the foundation of our economy: the working class. This, it can be successfully argued, is actually something that trickles up into the economy and creates a solid building block for security. But why would billionaires and millionaires care about this? It would seem like nothing to them, because they aren’t the people struggling to pay for a mortgage, childcare, groceries, and gas. Yet, these same folks focus on Trump’s supporters claiming they’ve been left behind economically — a matter Joe Biden’s policies actually address. Yet, we hear very little about this problem they purport to care about.
The Editorial Board lists many of the Biden-Harris administration’s accomplishments, which are frankly too long to list (and this is also a problem Democrats increasingly wrestle with as they pass meaningful, grown-up, mature legislation in a media environment that favors TMZ political reporting on drama and conflict).
They note, citing the brilliant former Republican strategist Stuart Stevens, Biden’s fight for freedom versus tyranny, “The Biden administration has managed to organize and lead an allied response to a brutish dictator’s invasion of a neighboring democracy. As Ukraine desperately tries to hold off Russia’s invasion, Biden, in the words of former Republican Party operative Stuart Stevens, is ‘standing on the side of freedom versus tyranny in the largest land war in Europe since WWII.’”
This comes at the same time as a report that not only is Team Trump working hard on the rather alarming “Project 2025,” led by Paul Dans and meant to dismantle the freedom the U.S. champions around the globe, but also that an influential think tank close to Trump is plotting to inject Christian nationalism into his administration, and they are also advising Project 2025.
They note Biden’s “decades of experience in the Middle East,” contrasting it with Trump lacking the “patience or the prowess to play a significant role in resolving a devilishly complex crisis.”
But they also mention something that will resonate with most voters who pay attention to politics, but during Trump’s chaotic term became obsessed with it due to the sense that at any moment, an imminent threat to our way of life could emerge, going back to Steven’s in The New Republic: “One of the greatest gifts of a democratic civil society is the freedom not to think about government, to wake up and not worry about the mood of a leader. Joe Biden has made governing boring and predictable, both fundamental rights of the people in a healthy democracy.”
Yes, we are not supposed to feel like we’re on a cheap carnival roller coaster and are watching the foundations of it crumbling ahead. We are meant to elect competent people with whom we can disagree without fear of being persecuted or targeted for malicious audits (I’m not bitter, okay maybe I am).
We are meant to elect non-reality TV show leaders like Joe Biden, so that we can get on with our own lives and focus on our families and careers and plan a vacation without fear that the country will be in such upheaval travel might not be safe (Trump’s mismanagement of Covid should be the end of any thought that he should be in charge again).
Serious papers like the Houston Chronicle understand what is at stake. We don’t have to agree with everything President Biden has done, nor should we! – to realize he is actually doing an incredible job.
Just days ago, Trump was ranked as the worst president ever by presidential scholars and experts of all political ideologies, whereas Joe Biden was ranked 14th, and that is only three years into his first term.
There is absolutely no comparison between these two candidates, except for their age. They are both old. They are both in the same age range, as pointed out by AOC, who said they could have gone to high school together. So why are we being inundated by a press that seeks to focus mostly on Biden’s age without an equivalent focus on Trump’s age? Perhaps they realized they can’t both sides for supposed objectivity points without finding some flaw of Biden’s to obsess over, but on this they should have learned the folly of their ways in 2016.
Governing is serious business. For anyone who actually pays attention, the notion that there is some kind of decision to be made between Trump and Biden is horrifying.
The Chronicle notes, “We are reassured in large part because Biden has restored the tradition of a capable team running the White House, a tradition trampled by Trump’s deeply flawed scheme to run a one-man show.”
A Special Message From PoliticusUSA
If you are in a position to donate purely to help us keep the doors open on PoliticusUSA during what is a critical election year, please do so here.
We have been honored to be able to put your interests first for 14 years as we only answer to our readers and we will not compromise on that fundamental, core PoliticusUSA value.
Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
