Biden exit shows he's no Trump or RBG
Now he should stop worrying about being “only” a one-term president
Some people retire as soon as they can and revel in their freedom to learn cooking or piano, travel everywhere on their bucket list, spend time with grandchildren, visit old friends, write a book, even start a business or switch careers. Others put off retirement for as long as possible. Their work is their purpose and even, at times, their salvation.
President Joe Biden is definitely the second type of person, so much so that he was heading straight into a Ruth Bader Ginsburg moment (as my husband calls it)—even a Donald Trump moment—right up until he suddenly announced Sunday that he would “stand down” from the 2024 presidential race.
Like Biden, Ginsburg believed her accomplishments and abilities made her unique—in effect, that “I alone can fix it,” as Trump said in his 2016 convention speech. But Ginsburg died on Sept. 18, 2020, and Amy Coney Barrett—then-President Trump’s third anti-abortion justice—won confirmation just a few weeks later.
In the days and weeks before Biden’s abrupt exit, his supporters often sounded like Ginsburg’s angry, pained admirers in 2022 as they awaited the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Her refusals to retire at a time when Democrats could have confirmed a successor were legacy-destroying and “an extraordinarily self-centered thing to do,” former New York Times legal writer Dorothy Samuels told Politico.
The parallels were inescapable, and Biden had the added overlays of pathos, resentment and the sense since 2015 that he’s never gotten his due. Did he step back from a presidential bid that year because he was mourning his son Beau’s death at 46 from brain cancer? Was Hillary Clinton already dominating the 2016 primary polls? Did then-President Barack Obama discourage him? Could Biden have won and headed off the Trump era? Served two terms?
No one can know, and none of it is relevant now. Biden has proven himself repeatedly, by running, winning and restoring not just “the soul of the nation” and its foundational values, but also its manufacturing base, infrastructure, economy, and world leadership role.
Biden embraces his role in history
There was no reason to risk all of that with a Ginsburg or Trump moment. Biden signaled to his country on Sunday that he now understands that. And by endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, he signaled to his party that he wants an orderly process—not a chaotic “mini-primary” that few if any ambitious Democrats would risk or, God forbid, Aaron Sorkin’s fantasy of a Democratic ticket headed by Republican Mitt Romney. Seriously? Sorkin and this West Wing fangirl are so over.
It's now up to the delegates at the Aug. 19 convention, and to Harris. To how she handles diehard supporters of Biden or other candidates, and—if she wins the delegate support she needs—how she conducts and consults on her own vice presidential search process.
The ultimate test for Harris or any Democratic nominee running against Trump is pass-fail: Save freedom and American values from a former president who is running not just for president but from criminal trials and possible prison terms. Save democracy and the rule of law, or not.
Though Biden has already passed this test once, he’s withstood a withering, humiliating barrage of calls to step aside in the weeks since his catastrophic debate performance. His attempts at damage control only underscored his diminishing capacity—not necessarily to do his job as president, which I believe he can continue doing well, but to make the public argument for the next four months and another four years. They also reinforced that he is stubborn. After more than a half century as the man in the arena, from county council to the White House, he was not about to go quietly or quickly.
I get it. There are two retirement refuseniks living in my house right now, younger than Biden but old enough. We can do our jobs as writers and editors sitting down, at home, when we feel like it and when we have the time. Running for president? Obviously, one of these things is not like the other.
One term is better than none—much better
Biden’s rationale at 81 has been that he needs a second term to “finish the job.” The New York Times reported last week that he did not want to be seen as a one-term president, “less successful” than Obama or Bill Clinton in that respect.
That may be why Democrats at the highest levels are now making a point, possibly to an audience of one, that Biden’s “remarkable” four years are as or more consequential than eight years of other administrations. Harris said in her initial statement Sunday, and again Monday at the White House, that Biden’s one term “has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who have served two terms in office.” Rep. Adam Schiff, the leading contender for California’s open Senate seat, made the same point in a Sunday night pitch for money: “He has accomplished more in one term than most presidents do in two.”
Clinton and Obama were each three decades younger than Biden when they ran for their second terms—a BFD. On the other hand, while Biden did not find success in his earlier races, as a younger man, he clearly was the right candidate at the right time to get Trump out of the picture in 2020. And, it must be said, serving one term in the White House instead of two is the ultimate first-world problem. Given polls like one that just showed him losing to Trump by 7 points in Michigan, I’m especially grateful for Biden’s decision.
On January 21, 2025, the president will be free to do what he wants. He could write a book about his presidency, update his vice presidential library with his eventful White House term and new achievements, earn some money, sit on the beach, or pattern himself on former Senate majority leader George Mitchell—who co-founded the Bipartisan Policy Center and brokered a 1998 peace accord between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
Whatever the election results and however Biden decides to spend his time, he will know he did his utmost for his country. George Washington set a lasting example in his new nation for peaceful, voluntary transfers of power from one president to the next. Biden’s historical rhyme of this precedent is a gift, sorely needed, to remind us of our traditions and to make sure as best we can that Trump cannot once again set them on fire, better prepared this time, and with more motivation.