Dance with the One Who Saved Democracy
Our short term memories & magical thinking are going to be our destruction.
We’re seeing a lot of jokes, criticisms and outright slanderous attacks about President Biden’s age. And a lot of this is from some of the same people who voted for him 4 years ago, as if when he was 78 in 2020, they couldn’t have possibility anticipated he’d be 82 in 2024. Unless you’re growing up in a Florida school, that should be pretty easy math.
It seems some of us need a history lesson.
Let’s travel back to 2019, when Dems started throwing their hats in the ring to become the 46th President of the United States. We had a field of four remarkable women: Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren. All but Warren were under 60 at the time. We also had a number of men running who were even younger: Sen. Cory Booker had just turned 50. Beto O’Rourke was 47. Sec. Julian Castro was two years younger at 45. And Mayor Peter Buttigieg was the baby of the group at just 37. I’m no doubt missing some people as the field was a clown car of (mostly) accomplished and exciting Democratic politicians. (Not you, Tulsi.)
We did not choose any of those candidates. Yes, I know we all had our favorites. But this is a political party, not a birthday party. Were it the latter, then yes, we would be in charge of all the decisions and get our favorite ice cream. As it is the former, we have to all decide on the flavor together. And after 4 years of the Rockiest of Roads, of ButterEmails Pecan and Bigots & Cream, we decided we were cool with Joe Biden’s vanilla cone. We had the choice of many younger candidates. For a myriad of reasons I am far too tired to dissect, this is where the majority landed.
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