Play Nice 46th President of the United States: Joe Biden 2: Incidit in scyllam cupiens vitare charybdim

[GAS PANIC]

Biden reportedly regrets ending re-election campaign and says he’d have defeated Trump

President also regrets picking Merrick Garland for attorney general, as he was slow to prosecute Trump for January 6

www.theguardian.com

Does anybody think Biden could have won? I don’t.

Even though when pondering policy in the quiet of his office he’s apparently still as sharp as ever (all that actually matters when running a country), in public he’d become an embarrassing dud, and US politics is all about showbiz, more’s the pity.

I'm sure you can find similar quotes from staffers in the 1980s White House saying the same about Ronald Reagan in his second term re: 'sharp as ever'.

Hubris destroyed Biden in the end. He only got the nomination first time around based on backroom dealing. Given his age he should have spent 4 years preparing a capable successor. He didn't, no doubt because he felt he was the only one capable of leading the country and didn't want competition from within the party. He then hung around way too long so as to become something of a joke.

Him thinking he could have won again just reiterates the extreme over confidence of the man. That being said, I think most elected officials at the higher level would be inclined to have similar levels of arrogance unfortunately.

 

[spinynorman]

Biden reportedly regrets ending re-election campaign and says he’d have defeated Trump

President also regrets picking Merrick Garland for attorney general, as he was slow to prosecute Trump for January 6

www.theguardian.com

Does anybody think Biden could have won? I don’t.

Even though when pondering policy in the quiet of his office he’s apparently still as sharp as ever (all that actually matters when running a country), in public he’d become an embarrassing dud, and US politics is all about showbiz, more’s the pity.

Hard to believe he even knows what year it is, let alone that he could’ve won.

Harris’ loss is in significant part because of her refusing to break with Biden. He was replaced in part because polls had him even struggling in New Jersey (and, rumour has it, even New York). I see no reason to believe he or his team had any idea how to turn around.

A better question would be if the Democrats could’ve won in 2024 had they not orchestrated his candidacy in 2020 in the first place? The ongoing story that his was a puppet presidency is going to hurt for years to come without significant renewal, especially if they want to fight Trump’s threat to democracy (which it seems, so far, they’ve dropped).

 

[CM86]

Biden reportedly regrets ending re-election campaign and says he’d have defeated Trump

President also regrets picking Merrick Garland for attorney general, as he was slow to prosecute Trump for January 6

www.theguardian.com

Does anybody think Biden could have won? I don’t.

Even though when pondering policy in the quiet of his office he’s apparently still as sharp as ever (all that actually matters when running a country), in public he’d become an embarrassing dud, and US politics is all about showbiz, more’s the pity.

My position was that Trump was going to win the 2024 election, and that the only person who had a chance to beat him would be Biden.

That whoever they put up instead of Biden would just inherit all of the negative talking points, outcomes and animosity of the Biden Presidency and exacerbated with their own 'problems'. Whatever they may be.
One of the biggest factors Biden had going for him, was that people recognised him, had their view of who he is.
This plays such an important role on the huge number of voters who don't actually follow politics.
Do you think the voters that didn't even know Biden wasn't running, had a view or opinion towards medically diagnosing his mental state?
No.
But they know Biden, they know Obama, they don't care that much but they know voting is important, so they stick with what they know.

The messaging was that everything bad about the Biden Presidency was just the start, and Harris was going to take it to the next level.
With Harris being so 'unknown' to a huge portion of enrolled voters, it's much harder to offset that kind of messaging.

With the outcome so close, it's impossible to know what could have changed the result.
Maybe if Biden had stayed on, Trump might have won by an actual landslide. I don't know.
But that was my position before Biden was replaced, and it's still my position now.



To me, the most frustrating part of that is his message about Garland.

 

[swingdog]

US political scientist, Ian Bremmer, says the story from last year’s election is how close Harris got to winning, given that we’re in the middle of a global backlash against incumbent governments.

 

[GAS PANIC]

It will be interesting to see how Biden is viewed in retrospect. Had Trump failed to be re-elected then I would have expected the Biden legacy to be something far more momentous i.e. defeating MAGA. Now that Trump is returning I'd expect it to be little more than a footnote in history. A fascinating sliding doors moment.

 

[swingdog]

It will be interesting to see how Biden is viewed in retrospect. Had Trump failed to be re-elected then I would have expected the Biden legacy to be something far more momentous i.e. defeating MAGA. Now that Trump is returning I'd expect it to be little more than a footnote in history. A fascinating sliding doors moment.

It's mixed, but leaning negative.

Did a good job domestically recovering from Covid recession in a progressive fashion and investing in renewables. Not fully supporting Ukraine is a huge black mark.

 

[Rotayjay]

US political scientist, Ian Bremmer, says the story from last year’s election is how close Harris got to winning, given that we’re in the middle of a global backlash against incumbent governments.

In my view, history won't care about that. She lost, and that's all that will be remembered. Just as no one really remembers the losing grand final teams, only premiers.

 

[spinynorman]

Now the oldest of the five living presidents, about to hand power back to the second oldest.