The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
Asked recently if he was ruling out a run for the presidency in 2024, California Gov. Gavin Newsom shot down the idea — again.
“You gotta be kidding,” he told Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.” “I am here celebrating the extraordinary accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration, making the case that we need to make to lift up the issues, lift up the record, drive contrast with the Republican nominee-to-be, Donald Trump, so that we can win for four more years.
“It’s all idle chatter. It’s all a — you know what? That’s a sideshow. I think what Democrats need to do is worry less, do more. … I think it’s a damning conversation, frankly, the other side wants us to have. And trust me, I know the mishegoss coming from the other side. I’m deeply mindful of the anger machine and all the entertainment industry out there on Fox and elsewhere. They love ginning this stuff up. At the end of the day, not only has this train left the station, but … we get to enjoy a record of accomplishments as we make the case in a reelection the likes of which we couldn’t even have dreamt of, even as a Democrat, last century.”
Newsom is right. It is a dangerous sideshow, and Democrats and the media are playing into it.
The special counsel had no business critiquing the president as an elderly man with a poor memory. He isn’t a doctor or a diagnostician. It set off a flurry of media coverage of the “age issue,” which is all about atmospherics, ignoring what Biden has actually accomplished as president.
Exactly what has Biden done that indicates his age is affecting his performance as president? Trip on the stairs? What does that say about his ability to do the job? Exactly nothing.
Biden is not dropping out of the race. He has a war chest the likes of which his debt-ridden opponent cannot hope to match, a record of accomplishment and a strong economy to run on. He also has a stutter that has nothing to do with his mental acuity, and arthritis that has nothing to do with his ability to govern.
Faced with a hostile and extremist-controlled Republican Party, Biden has managed to pass historic legislation, avoid a recession, create record numbers of new jobs, take major steps to address climate change and forge a historic compromise to address the border issues — which Trump is trying to scuttle in the House so that he can make it an issue in November.
So why are Democrats feeding into the narrative that discounts Biden’s record as an effective president? Why are they feeding into the fantasy that he will — and should — drop out of the race?
Republicans, saddled with a candidate who large segments of their own party recognize may not be qualified to be president because of his record of criminal wrongdoing, would obviously prefer to castigate Biden as too old.
Why talk about the record, or the issues, when you can put Biden down for his age? It’s bad enough when the Trumpers do it, but when Democrats and the media play that card, it’s simply outrageous.
Gavin Newsom’s name is the first one mentioned when the chattering class starts yapping about a Biden-less ticket. He’s right to shoot it down as a Trumper fantasy. It’s “mishegoss,” and enough is enough.
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