President Joe Biden surprised the nation by announcing he won’t seek reelection, casting a fitting end to his chequered career. The consensus within the Democratic Party is that Biden was left with no choice after his recent debate performance exposed his physical and mental unfittingness for office.
His approval ratings plummeted in 2021 following a sequence of unforced errors, including botched military withdrawals and poor treatment of Gold Star families. Though Biden’s party has all but disowned him, insiders attribute his downfall to inherent vulnerabilities in his leadership style.
Biden’s underwhelming legacy began with an infamous plagiarism scandal in 1987, effectively ending his first presidential run. Though he rebounded during Barack Obama’s 2008 bid, securing the vice presidential ticket despite his lackluster showing as a Senate candidate.
Robert Gates, a former Defense Secretary, once summed up Biden’s Senate tenure in blistering terms: “incorrect on almost every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” Fate and circumstance conspired to bring Biden to the presidency nonetheless – the pandemic and Iowa Caucus blunders, which denied Sen. Pete Buttigieg momentum during the 2020 primary, paved his way.
If the Democratic nominee fares well in the 2024 race, it will likely be due to some alternative figure, not Biden, earning their vote. Conversely, failure might be attributed to Biden’s stubborn grasp on power, despite his party vehemently opposing his reelection effort due to his electoral unlikelihood.
Aside from the presidential win he lucked into thanks to his own party’s incompetence and a once-in-a-century pandemic, Biden will be remembered as a loser who chased a presidential dream for decades and then drove his party, and the country, into the ground when he reached it.
