“No one said I had to.”
That was the President of the United States, not just a grown man but the democratically elected leader of our government, in response to the question posed by George Stephanopolos last night in the interview designed to calm American fears that Joe Biden is not capable of doing his job.
How diminishing, damning, desperate and depressing.
Is he six? It is Biden’s responsibility not only to address those fears, but as an ethical, trustworthy public servant, to ensure for his own sake that he is cognitively capable of being President of the United States. My father asked the Department of Motor Vehicles to give him a driving test when he was 81 to eliminate my father’s doubts that it was still safe for him to drive. He didn’t have to take the test. The President will only do what is obviously important and demanded by his recent behavior if “somebody tells him he has to”?
Who would that be? Dr. Jill? Congress? Nobody should have to tell him that taking such a test is urgently necessary. If I ever descended into involuntary Authentic Frontier Gibberish (“Rarit!”) while giving an ethics seminar or in a consultation with a client, I would rush to get myself tested. Nobody would have to “tell me I had to.”
Biden’s answer wasn’t an explanation, it was a deflection. Biden is lying. (If Trump said that, it would go right into the Washington Post’s Trump Lies database.) Mature, ethical adults don’t only behave responsibly when “someone tells them they have to.” Biden is behaving like a child; indeed, it’s quite possible that he now has the cognitive abilities of a child. Competent leaders don’t avoid bad news, either about their objectives or themselves. They want to know the bad news immediately, so they can fix the problem. Biden won’t take the test because he’s afraid of the results.
He’s a coward.
One of the now familiar talking points his party and the Axis are repeating is that even a diminished Biden is preferable to Donald Trump because of character. Those five words show the quality of Joe Biden’s character.
They also show the quality of character possessed by those insisting that he should continue as President.
Ethics Alarms 
This is turning into a made for streaming “King Lear.” Shakespeare was such an incredible observer of behavior. “Lear” is a master class on dementia. Realizing Lear is simply demented makes the play make sense. It’s funny that until just now I hadn’t drawn the comparison with what’s being done to Joe. And Joe’s behaving just like Lear.
It’s too bad the humanities aren’t being taught anymore because everyone wants to be a partner at Goldman Sachs.
By the way, I re-read “Lear” a couple of years ago, a number of years after watching my dad get Alzheimered the last year of his life. Alzheimer’s patients really do turn into children. That’s Joe right now. Give him some more ice cream so he’ll be happy and won’t act up.
I directed “King Lear”—cut it down a bit, not much, my resident English lit major, Grace, did the cutting—easily the most astounding play I’ve ever directed, seen or read. It convinced me that Shakespeare was superior being from outer space. Nobody here is that perceptive.
Agreed. I thought the same thing: how could anybody so accurately diagnose and portray a neurological condition like dementia when barbers were still letting blood to relieve bad humours? He really was from some other planet. And then get it down on paper, in unearthly iambic pentameter, and stage it and make a living doing so. And do it, what, thirty times?
That kind of talk is only one step above a three year old child saying “no! I don’t have to!” when told to take a bath or go to bed. The Democrats used to say that dealing with the Tea Party was like arguing with a two year old about bedtime. Now their own guy is acting the same way in front of the whole nation and the world and they’re falling right into lock step behind him. Well, some of them are. A few are breaking ranks, but not enough yet.
At this point it’s a race against time. The hope is to hold the line and bamboozle enough folks to put Joe over the mark in November, then have him resign for Harris to take over and be guaranteed another 4 years. It would be nice if he could make it to just past the point where Harris could still serve 2 terms on top of part of his, but that’s pushing it.
I agree, Steve. The ideal scenario for the Dems is Kamala gets eight years (or what, almost twelve years?). But I’m beginning to think Joe is SO fragile, he’s going to have to be removed within weeks.
Last year, how many people were expecting FJB to announce sometime around late January to early February of 2024, that he will not seek re-election?
CNN starts shoveling out the stable:
Watching a visibly aged Biden answer frank questions Friday about his health on primetime television – which would normally remain between a patient and their doctor – [What? Who came up with that deflection? We aren’t supposed to be listening to this discussion?] felt like an affront to presidential dignity. [Are you kidding? Joe is a walking, talking affront to the office.] It was sad to see a person who’s respected and beloved by many Americans [Who “respects and loves” Joe Biden? Why are “love” and “”beloved” being tossed around like confetti in every piece about Biden?] suffer such a plight [Who inflicted this upon Joe other than the Dems and his family?]. And it would be a hard heart that did not empathize with Biden as he confronts the painful human realities of aging in the most public manner imaginable [Oh, come, on. [This is just a family tragedy because someone in the family is demented? The nation is supposed to just sit by and empathize with a demented guy at the helm because to do anything about it would be mean?]
The mind boggles.
Joe’s “It was jet lag. I had a cold. I was tired from my busy schedule. etc. etc” litany of excuses reminded me of this legendary John Belushi scene from the Blues Brothers. Except, Belushi’s character was much more credible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFvujknrBuE
The rest of the interview reminded me of “Trains, Planes and Automobiles,” when John Candy, driving a burned out wreck of a car with no roof and no doors, is stopped by a cop and asked, “Do you believe this vehicle is safe to drive?” “I do, officer. I absolutely do,” he answers, looking sincere.
Biden is the car….
However, the radio still works! With all this mess, funny enough it still works. It’s clear as a bell!
Great delivery by John Candy…