Just as Christians are often attacked for blind adherence to the Bible, leftists cling to their own scripture, known to the rest of us as The New York Times. As was once famously said of EF Hutton, when the Times talks, liberals listen – and comply. And the message they have now received from the Gray Lady, their newspaper of record, is the end product of polls that consistently reveal cratering approval of a president clearly out of his depth.
It’s time to move on from Joe Biden.
Perhaps this seems an obvious imperative for anyone paying attention to this president’s transparent decline, vacant leadership, unbroken string of failed policies, and the abiding sense that he has lost control over not just the political narrative, but his administration writ large. His ever-angrier rants blaming Republicans and greedy corporations for his own self-generated crises serve as evidence of a deepening frustration over his steep decline and utter inability to command the stage, or even be taken seriously. Polls confirming he would likely lose in a rematch with the man he thought he had vanquished forever, Donald Trump, have left him infuriated, and his administration increasingly demoralized and paralyzed, as confirmed by insider accounts of a White House staff losing hope.
Crying uncle just 16 months into the presidency of a man it all but begged Americans to elect, the Times let the cat out of the bag in its headline, “Should Biden Run in 2024? Democratic Whispers of ‘No’ Start to Rise” – which translated means they are granting permission to hold such a view. It describes intra-party “doubts about this president’s ability to rescue his reeling party and take the fight to Republicans.” Insiders are “increasingly viewing [Biden] as an anchor that should be cut loose in 2024.” And it speaks of “a party alarmed about Republicans’ rising strength and extraordinarily pessimistic about an immediate path forward.” One of the few interview subjects specifically identified in the piece – “most top elected Democrats were reluctant to speak on the record” – Steve Simeonidis, a Democratic National Committee member from Miami, even said outright that Biden “should announce his intent not to seek re-election in ’24 right after the midterms.”
But perhaps the worst of it for this flagging president is that he’s described as the leader of “a party that, as much as anything, seems to feel sorry for him.”
The American people appear to have rendered an all-but-permanent judgment on Joe Biden. He has fallen below 39% in the Real Clear Politics average of polls, even as Democrats stage their January 6 show trial designed specifically to boost their rock-bottom approval. A true measure of how bad things have gotten for the party is that Republicans have actually doubled their advantage in generic ballot preference from 2010, when they gained a whopping 63 seats in the House. Already the oldest president in American history and appearing even more elderly than his 79 years, few believe this chief executive is capable of affecting a turnaround. And the leftists’ Bible has now given its adherents permission to do what they have not-so-secretly been yearning to do for months now – dump Biden. Not that they’re angry at him – they will be eternally grateful that he managed to unseat Donald Trump – but they’re not stupid or blind. They realize just how hopeless the cause of his presidency has become.
Of course, the single most complicating factor in shoving the old man aside is the failed plan to have his vice president step in and sweep to a second term for the Biden-Harris ticket. Sure, her own campaign in 2020 did a face-plant out of the gate, and everyone knows she was picked strictly for race and gender, but Democrats have clearly been taken aback by her sheer ineptitude. As seemingly the only remaining Democrat who actually makes Biden appear popular by comparison, Kamala Harris has all but eliminated herself from serious contention for the presidency. This means the 2024 nomination would, like 2020, be thrown open to all comers, and most of them – Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, et al. – have already demonstrated they are not ready for primetime. Those also-rans delivered a startlingly underwhelming performance in the last presidential primary dominated by the most far-left policy proposals ever promoted by a major party, leaving Democrats bereft of credible presidential contenders.
Joe Biden (Getty Images)
The litany of present crises is clearly overwhelming Biden and his administration. Inflation is the highest in 40 years – and the only cure is steep interest rate hikes, which themselves would likely spark something almost as bad or worse: a recession. They have no answers other than pointing fingers of blame elsewhere for soaring gas and food prices, a supply-chain crisis of growing magnitude, and critical shortages of baby formula. Mass shootings, racial strife, and soaring crime rates continue to draw headlines. The pandemic over which he falsely claimed victory persists. And the failed Build Back Better monstrosity was for Biden the worst of all worlds; it unmasked his most radical instincts while failing to close the deal in a Democrat-controlled Congress, thus making him look impotent.
After a six-month honeymoon, everything has fallen apart for Joe Biden. The voters appear prepared to deliver a knockout blow to Democrats, who won congressional majorities by the slimmest of margins last time around, and send an unambiguous message to the 46th president. And now, Biden’s most ardent supporters have reached the same conclusion, as they quietly, reluctantly prepare to show him the door. The question is whether Joe Biden himself will be the last to realize – or accept – that for him, it’s all over but the shouting.
