One of the hot topics right now is Biden’s age and the hot take is that he’s too old because 80’s, so the Dems should get someone else to run. Someone better. Like in 2016 when we should’ve gotten someone better than Clinton.
All of this carping buggers the question, who would you get to run in Biden’s stead? Let’s play Fantasy Presidential Election!
We’ve got hella possibilities with third party and independent candidates, even if Joe Manchin has taken himself out of the running disappointing his baron of failing coal companies son but no one else. The problem, to me anyway, is that none of them seem to have the right combination of vision and political chops to excite a door mouse.
With the looming climate disaster looming ever higher and closer and disasterier. Putin threatening to invade everyone but China and North Korea. The mess of AI and disinformation. Who has the vision to address the problems that are ahead of us?
Biden’s accomplishments:
- CLIMATE CHANGE: He’s done more than any other president to actually reduce our carbon production.
- ECONOMY:
- Recession: Avoided
- Jobs: Booming growth, more than any first term president
- Wages: Up for the first time in thirty years
- Infrastructure: Being built for the first time in thirty years?
- FOREIGN POLICY:
- NATO: Reinvigorated and unified
- Putin: Standing up to and pushing back on
- China: Standing up to and keeping them out of Taiwan
- Israel: Working hard to reign in Netatrumphu who’s using Gaza to stay in office and out of jail
Who has the vision, strength of character, gravitas, whatever you want to call it, to take on our problems right now, especially with a Republican Party being a millstone around his dick?
Give me your candidates and reasons why in the comments!
The Psy of Life 
Howdy y’all!
I thought I’d add a comment to my own blog post just to expand upon what I’m saying up there in the original.
When we think about the big moments in American history where the nation was threatened, we’ve always had a president who could rise to the occasion, understand the moment, and deliver what was needed. And, when we had a big moment, and didn’t have a president who could answer the call, we suffered mightily. Admittedly, with our short 250 year history, there haven’t been many.
Inception of the country: George Washington, stepped away from the presidency after two terms voluntarily, kept the country together through early challenges like Whisky Rebellion, and established what we think of the foundations of the nation like the Bill of Rights, and appointed members of different political parties to his cabinet.
The Civil War: Lincoln kept the country together and freed the slaves. He launched Reconstruction in an effort to manage the traitorous and inhumane sentiments in Southern whites.
Reconstruction: Grant was a much weaker president than Lincoln and brought about the chaotic and confusing end to Reconstruction. From 1867 to 1897 you could argue that America had a succession of weak presidents who could not manage the warring sides of the Civil War. In many ways, we’re in a similar era now.
The Great Depression: FDR recognized what was needed to pull to the country out of the Depression and warred with Congress to get the New Deal legislation passed. He also managed WWII which was the last great challenge to liberal Western democracies by fascists, very similar to our own times.
Civil Rights Legislation: LBJ got civil rights through Congress, but lost it on the war in Viet Nam. He’s a mixed bag in terms of rising to the occasion to quell the turmoil in the country that ultimately led to Nixon and Reagan and our current troubles.
The Great Recession: Obama had to fight Republican partisanship to get us through the Great Recession and managed to pass the ACA.
Climate Change: The disaster that is unfolding around us is just more evidence that no one changes unless they are in enough pain to change. The forces of wealth have come to dominate and they focus sharply on their bottomline of right now. Had it been any different, the fossil fuels industry would’ve begun to diversify into renewables in the 1960’s when they realized the damage they were doing. Instead, they are still fighting to squeeze every last penny out of every molecule of carbon they release into the atmosphere.
Who is the leader who is going to rise to the occasion of seeing us through climate change and the current challenge to our democracy. Biden has done a good job of reshaping the economy by slowing the wealth transfer, doing the minimum to address climate change, and holding the Western alliance of liberal democracies together to face down the challenges by oligarchs, technocrats, theocrats, and dictators that we face now. The question is, is there anyone who has the huevos of Washington, Lincoln, or FDR?
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
OK, I’m trying to come up with somebody. It’s not easy. There is no obvious alternative, hardly anybody seriously talked about even as a successor to Biden in 2028 other than the traditional one, the current VP. Part of the problem is that nobody has really seriously tried to compete with Joe as a credible candidate (RFK Jr.? Get a grip!). So, I have to ask, “Who actually wants the job?” Who is out there who has the experience, imagination, and charisma to sell a vision that goes from coping with problems to seizing opportunities? Who has a story to tell, not of defending democracy, but of the beauty, strengths, success, core values, and celebration of democracy, the excitement of inclusion, the power and wisdom of diversity, and more?
Have Democrats, liberals, and progressives been too long in a defensive crouch against the assaults of the authoritarians and liars to articulate that positive vision?
Jack, I don’t know, and that scares me. Even if Biden wins this one, we will need that other candidate in just 4 years, and if he looses, it may not matter anymore.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy Bob!
The 2028 Democratic primary will be a crowded and messy affair. I think there are a lot of Dem pols out there who are kinda like Beto O’Rourke was in 2020? Who think they are more prepared and deserving of the position than maybe they are. Everybody from Eric Swalwell to Chris Murphy will throw their hat in the ring in a massive, why not me? moment.
The conventional wisdom holds for Biden. If the incumbent gets a serious challenger in the primary, it weakens them in the election. The only reason the incumbent gets a serious challenger is because they are a weak candidate. Poppy Bush is the last one who went this route with Bob Dole.
I keep returning to Gavin Newsom as a possibility, but he’s not out there building anything. Stacey Abrams seems like she missed her moment. But, then I think of someone like AOC who has the opposite age problem of being too young but has the right policy vision for the future. However, she’s a representative and historically, it has proven to be a weak place to jump to the presidency from.
Hopefully someone will raise their profile who can not only become the consensus candidate but also consolidate early.
It is a worrisome thing, though.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was thinking this afternoon about AOC too. The jump from the House of Representatives to the White House is hard and rare. The far more common path is House to Senate to WH. Showing you can win in a state-wide race helps a lot, and senators really can get more real power. So, maybe not in ’28, but she is hella smart, and tough, with bonafide blue collar roots and work history, not to mention, beautiful.
Assuming Biden gets another term, he will bring Harris with him as VP. If he dies or is incapacitated, she will succeed him or become acting Prez. If she can get to ’28 “looking presidential”, she could be the presumptive nominee. If she spends those 4 years presuming (along with others) that she will be the nominee it may hurt her as much as it did Hillary.
It would be nice to get to Primary season of ’28 without so many “What the heck, it’s a photo op.” candidates.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy Bob!
I don’t think she’ll scare away too many of the ambitious contenders. Newsom definitely sees himself going places and it isn’t the Senate. Many from the 2020 field will be back. That’s one reason why many of them ran in the first place, Buttigieg, Swalwell, and Klobucher. They were just trying to improve their name recognition and maybe win the wild card.
If Harris succeeds Biden, she’ll be another Poppy Bush. She’ll be a one termer. I have no confidence in her. I didn’t in 2020. I didn’t when she was chosen as his running mate. Nothing has changed. I wish Stacey Abrams had a higher profile right about now. When she was running for governor and doing voting registration, I was enthusiastic about her. She and AOC are about the only two who have the vision thing that we need as far as I can tell. Hopefully, there is some great unknown out there who can come swooping in and pick up the pieces. We really need an FDR type right about now.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmmm – a great unknown? Like another Obama who can capture the popular imagination and articulate the vision, young, but not too young, an “outsider”, but too outside, etc.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, I remember Obama coming on the scene. The Obama dreams that people had — I had one. I remember the derogatory words and phrases that the GOP used about him, too. We need another Obama.
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
As many as we can get.
LikeLiked by 1 person