Monday, July 22, 2024

The Exit

 


A Good Actor needs to know when to Leave the Stage  

The big news of the day is that the current US President, Mr. Joe Biden has withdrawn from the election that is to be held on November 5 of this year. If you exclude Presidents who were assassinated or forced to resign, Mr. Biden is the first President in the post-world-war era to have not run for election. More of the story can be found at:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e5xpdzkd8o

 


What makes this story so particularly sad is the fact that Mr. Biden was effectively pushout of the race by his own party and supporters. In a way, it’s a sad end to a long career of public service. Whilst Mr. Biden did make some horrible mistakes like his blind support for Israel and the shambolic withdrawal from Afghanistan, he can claim credit for returning a sense of competence to government and the economy after the near collapse of America during Covid 19, when the US had by far and away the worst Covid casualties. Mr. Biden’s performance in government was at such a state where the Democrats actually held onto the Senate and lost the House by a slim minority, when its normal for the president’s party to get a drubbing.

So, why would the Democrats dump a man who had done a reasonably good job at restoring order? The answer is simple. Mr. Biden looked like a loser at crucial points. In the Presidential Debate, he looked and sounded incoherent against an opponent who consistently lied. That on its own would not have been so bad, had he appeared sharp and energetic in every other public appearance. That didn’t happen. Mr. Biden proceeded to prove the critics right, making a series of gaffes like calling his vice-president the same name as his opponent (“Vice-President Trump).

The good side of Mr. Biden withdrawing is that the Democrats might actually find a candidate with a chance of winning. However, whatever way you look at it, this is the sad demise of Mr. Biden’s long political career. What’s even sadder is the fact it didn’t have to be like this. Back when he ran in 2020, Mr. Biden had the perfect idea – which was to promise that he’d be a one term president. He described himself as the “bridge” between generations, whereby he’d offer stability (a valued commodity after the chaos of the Trump years), which would then step aside to let someone younger and more dynamic run the show. Think of Nelson Mandela who became President at 75 and acted as a figurehead who kept things together and allowed Thabo Mbeki to find his feet running the country as “Deputy President” until he was ready to take over from Mr. Mandela.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/09/politics/joe-biden-bridge-new-generation-of-leaders/index.html

 


 Had Mr. Biden stuck to being a “Bridge,” chances are, he may have achieved more. Call it the “what do I have to lose” theory, which works on a similar principle of “powerful number two” theory, where deputies are given an extraordinary amount of power because they have no ambitions to take their boss’s job (think of former Vice President Dick Cheney or former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Goh Keng Swee).

When a leader, working on the “What do I have to lose” theory can do certain things that may not be popular or even painful, because, well, they’re not worried about staying in power, they’re not keeping an eye on the poll numbers in the same way that someone seeking his reelection might.

Mr. Biden won in 2020 for one very simple reason. He was everything Mr. Trump was not – calm, collected and his statements about being a “bridge” between generations gave him the biggest differentiator – he looked more interested in serving the public than himself (compare that with Mr. Trump’s constant complaints that things were rigged against him even when he won in 2016).

However, Mr. Biden didn’t really like he had nothing to lose and by the time 2020 came along and the incompetence of the Trump Administration’s handling of Covid 19 forgotten, Mr. Biden looked worn out but still keep to hold on. His obvious gaffes made him a vote loser and his party had to do the necessary. If only Mr. Biden had chosen to go before he was pushed.   

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Maira Gall