Is Biden to Blame?

      Postmortems and finger-pointing following the Democratic debacle on Election Day (i.e., the restoration of a now even more-untethered Donald Trump) are inevitable.

Photo by FRANK VAN RIPER.

      Previously, I have come down hard on Joe Biden, for his obstinate refusal to step aside in the face of obvious physical and mental weakness—and, also obviously, for going back on his word not to run for re-election.

      At the risk of piling on an old man, I could not help but agree this week with virtually all of what conservative New York Times opinion columnist Bret Stephens had to say in a succinct analysis of where Joe Biden’s presidency went wrong—and how it doomed the Democrats to defeat:

      “Through hubris, Biden destroyed his single greatest accomplishment, which was the defeat of Donald Trump. Through diffidence, he failed to achieve what might have been the most impressive goal of his term, which would have been Russia’s battlefield defeat in Ukraine, thanks to rapid and overwhelming U.S. assistance.

      “Through inattention, he allowed a preventable immigration crisis to unfold, along with a huge spike in inflation that was the predicted result of his reckless overspending. Through imprudence, he permitted the Justice Department to prosecute his predecessor in a way that did more to resurrect Trump’s political fortunes than it did to bury them. Through self-delusion, and the dishonesty or silence of his close confidants, he covered up the extent of his mental decline. Through political malpractice, he anointed Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee instead of encouraging a more open process that could have yielded a better candidate … .”

      Reasonable people may disagree on some of Stephens’ points, but to this longtime Democrat, damn near everything he said rang true in hindsight. (For the record, I take issue with saying that Biden “anointed” Vice President Kamala Harris, as his successor. By the time Biden was forced out by congressional Democrats and other high-powered party types following his disastrous first (and only) debate with Trump, Democrats really had no choice but to unite behind Harris and try desperately to re-ignite their presidential campaign.)

      Stephens, a Pulitzer Prize winner for political commentary, wisely does not say that Biden’s real accomplishments in office will be forgotten by history. In his weekly dialogue with his liberal Times colleague Gail Collins, he joked that, after a disastrous Trump second term, Biden may wind up looking like “Abraham Lincoln II.”

      Nevertheless, this still-loyal Democrat cannot help but look at Stephens’ analysis and wish it were not so damned accurate.