Aruna Week 10: Hold On, Let Go
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| Photo Credit: Samuel Corum, Getty Images |
Last week, on Monday, the United States experienced a peaceful transition of executive power known as Inauguration Day. A president leaves, and another president enters. It isn’t just the government itself that changes, but the tone of politics itself. As we react with mouths agape with the fast-moving news cycles that characterize Trump’s leadership style, I wanted to reflect on the previous administration—the four years of sleepytime led by a Sleepy Joe between two radically norm-breaking Trump administrations.
I don’t see Biden as a bad president. A former Senator, he was adept at working with Congress and garnered an impressive record of legislative accomplishments during the first two years of his presidency. Although his foreign policy was mixed, being tarnished by a disastrous pullout from Afghanistan, Biden successfully unified countries around Ukraine during Russia’s invasion and helped negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine.
But each human has their own defining flaws. I believe Biden’s was the staunch refusal to let go of power until it was too late to make a difference.
Biden became president in his late seventies after a successful defeat of Donald Trump. Enough people excused his age at the time that he was elected to office. However, as he grew more unpopular amid rising inflation and more visible aging, there were doubts that he should run for re-election.
Yet he did so anyway. I’m an optimist, so I don’t see him as just power-hungry; since he beat Trump before, he probably told himself that he had to show up and do it again for the good of the nation. But it was not 2020 anymore. Voters were no longer satisfied with just “the guy who isn’t Trump.” They expected more.
Ultimately, it was an extraordinarily poor presidential debate performance that led to Biden’s exit. Voters and party leaders had to see it to believe it—when put on the spot without a script to rely on, the president appeared confused and aging. Both public and private pressure built on Biden, and though he was reluctant to leave at first, he eventually caved.
At the time, many of Biden’s supporters—including myself—celebrated his decision to let go of power out of his own volition. But the action proved too late. His would-be successor, Vice President Kamala Harris, didn’t have enough time to establish her own brand and thus remained inextricably tied to her unpopular boss. Americans decided accordingly.
Biden’s 2020 campaign took on a moderate and unifying message, vowing to bring back normalcy after four years of Trump’s firebrand political style. But ironically, it was his false belief that he could triumph over Donald Trump a second time that paved the way for Trump’s second victory. Despite his strengths and achievements, Biden’s main legacy will be that of an old man sandwiched between two Trump administrations, too confident and too afraid to pass the torch to a new generation.
Hi Aruna! The points you made about Biden's presidency and his shortcomings were really insightful, as it felt like you were able to look past all of the overly polarizing opinions that float around online, and really dig into the heart of the matter, looking at the situation for what it really is. I completely agree with the notion that Biden's deterioration due to his age was the cause of his downfall, but I'm not so sure about the presidential debate being the cause of his exit. We had all clearly seen glimpses of Biden crumbling to father time, with those moments all slowly leading his reputation in the public eye to dwindle down over time, and I feel as though that moment was the straw that broke the camel's back, ending his run for the second presidency term. I love how at the end you contrasted Biden's confidence and fear the pass the torch on, as it such a powerful statement that brings so much more meaning to Biden's persistence in running for president than the idea that he was simply too stubborn.
ReplyDeleteHi Aruna! I have to say I was really looking forward to reading your blog post week since you always seem to have such refined and developed interpretations of any subject and this post was no exception. I expected to read a post about how our country has struggled with a peaceful transfer of power in the past and how that reflects badly on a certain man who has been reelected, but instead, you wrote about a small nuance of the election that also happened to define the whole thing. Your focus on Biden’s reluctance to pass the torch as a defining flaw is a really insightful angle. It is easy to frame his presidency in terms of legislative wins and foreign policy challenges, but you highlight how his personal decision-making ultimately shaped his legacy. I especially liked your take on his motivations, not a power hungry politician, but a sweet old man who may have genuinely believed he was the only one who could stop Trump. Overall, this was a really compelling read, your ability to pinpoint key moments and their lasting consequences makes your post a great read.
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