Thank You Joe Biden
Joe Biden may not be the greatest candidate, but he was what America needed in January of 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic was still raging across the country, with more than 3000 Americans dying per day. This chaos was compounded by the Republican efforts to disrupt and overturn the 2020 election, losing dozens of cases all over the country. All of which was topped off with the storming of the capital on January 6th by a mob incited by Donald Trump. The nation needed two things: a call for calm and an intense effort to coordinate and organize the government into action. We found the perfect match in Joe Biden. While the first dose of the COVID vaccine was administered on December 14th, 2020, the further rollout was a disaster. Similar to how he had handled the pandemic thus far, President Trump chose to also make the vaccination effort a political issue. Joe Biden chose a different path.
President Biden wasn't exaggerating when he promised to "manage the hell" out of the COVID response. He set an ambitious goal of 100 million vaccines administered in the first 100 days of his Presidency. This was coupled with organizing the supporting infrastructure and purchasing proper supplies, needles, masks, and disinfectants. By March 25th, the White House announced they had doubled that goal to 200 million doses in their first 100 days, a goal which they would also exceed. He also began the difficult process of healing the nation and turning down the temperature even before he was inaugurated. Biden chose to combine these two goals in a little covered speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. President Elect Biden did what President Trump chose not to do: mourn. Hundreds of thousands of Americans were dead. And while then-President Trump chose to post on social media the loss and hardship must be "quickly forgotten" and we should move on so "our economy will BOOM," Joe Biden embraced loss.
Biden had always been a deeply empathetic person and his experience of incredible loss in his family helped shape his perspective in a perfect salve for a reeling nation. Because of this experience, he chose to become both a President and a grandfather for the country. Looking out on the small crowd, he urged us to remember. "To heal you must remember, it’s hard to remember, that’s how we heal, and it’s important to do that as a nation." As hundreds of lights shone behind him, representing the current death toll of 400,000, Biden urged, "[b]etween sundown and dusk, let us shine the lights in the darkness along the sacred pool of reflection, remembering all whom we've lost." With that speech, the tone of his Presidency was set: one of healing, one of calm, and one of Grandpa Joe looking out for a country that lost its way.
He got to work and by March, 2021 the first of a series of massive bills was signed and out the door for the American people, a $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package for states, businesses, and families. This was followed in November by a $1.1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill with $550 billion towards new projects including internet access, roads and bridges, airport modernization, and "the most funding for Amtrak since the passenger rail service was founded in 1971." This turned out to be the "largest infusion of federal investment into infrastructure projects in more than a decade." Then, in his second year as President, Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Boring names aside, these two bills are credited with the current manufacturing boom in the United States from a five-year high of $82 billion in 2019, to $231 billion in April 2023. But every presidency is met with challenges and events started to occur that were largely out of his control: Ukraine, inflation, and Israel. While these situations would be a challenge for any president, it is actually quite remarkable how well they were handled. The president vastly strengthened and united the world around NATO, while severely reducing Russia’s military without a single American life lost. Keeping the economy strong and healthy as the Federal Reserve and economists feared only a recession would help inflation. Remember Silicon Valley Bank? And finally, toeing the extremely difficult line of supporting our closest ally in the Middle East while also being stern and steering a bad actor in Prime Minister Netanyahu into making the right decisions and saving innocent lives.
But then the debate performance happened, and voters began to grow worried. I don’t want to talk about media narratives and candidate Biden vs President Biden. The decision has been made. But the decision in itself is a truly remarkable one that we have not seen in modern American history. Joe Biden has willingly given up the most powerful position on the planet. This was his choice, he didn't have to make it. There was not a single person in the country who had the agility to overrule his will. It is almost too poetic to see the President willingly give up power after being elected over another who desperately tried to cling to it. As Former President Obama said in a statement today, "we’ve also been reminded — again — that he’s a patriot of the highest order." Biden fought, argued, stood tall, but the mood still wouldn’t break. And so he chose to not seek reelection.
I do not want to speculate on whether or not this was the right decision. I am still not sure. There are still about 3.5 months until the election, quite a while in political terms. But I am sure about one thing: Joe Biden is a great man and he was what the country and the world needed after the disaster that was and is Donald Trump. His kindness and patriotism was central to every action he took in his long life of public service. Fundamental human decency was at the core of his being. Whatever happens in the election, this was an extremely difficult decision made by a good man. There appears to be no other reason for this predicament than his age, a difficult fact for any to swallow. We will see the impacts of his legislative accomplishments for decades to come and his name will be in history books forever as the 46th President of the United States of America. But he will also be remembered as the man who showed us once again what it means to be a public servant. I don’t think he wanted to bow out, but he saw the safety of the nation was more important than his wants. Perhaps with Washington in his heart, he chose to not seek power.
David Axelrod, as the pressure began to build for Biden to bow out, observed "history will be kinder to him than voters were in the end." I couldn’t agree more. Thank you President Biden, for being the old oak tree for the country to rest under after the storm. Thank you for being a kind and decent man. Thank you for your service to our nation.
President Biden wasn't exaggerating when he promised to "manage the hell" out of the COVID response. He set an ambitious goal of 100 million vaccines administered in the first 100 days of his Presidency. This was coupled with organizing the supporting infrastructure and purchasing proper supplies, needles, masks, and disinfectants. By March 25th, the White House announced they had doubled that goal to 200 million doses in their first 100 days, a goal which they would also exceed. He also began the difficult process of healing the nation and turning down the temperature even before he was inaugurated. Biden chose to combine these two goals in a little covered speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. President Elect Biden did what President Trump chose not to do: mourn. Hundreds of thousands of Americans were dead. And while then-President Trump chose to post on social media the loss and hardship must be "quickly forgotten" and we should move on so "our economy will BOOM," Joe Biden embraced loss.
Biden had always been a deeply empathetic person and his experience of incredible loss in his family helped shape his perspective in a perfect salve for a reeling nation. Because of this experience, he chose to become both a President and a grandfather for the country. Looking out on the small crowd, he urged us to remember. "To heal you must remember, it’s hard to remember, that’s how we heal, and it’s important to do that as a nation." As hundreds of lights shone behind him, representing the current death toll of 400,000, Biden urged, "[b]etween sundown and dusk, let us shine the lights in the darkness along the sacred pool of reflection, remembering all whom we've lost." With that speech, the tone of his Presidency was set: one of healing, one of calm, and one of Grandpa Joe looking out for a country that lost its way.
He got to work and by March, 2021 the first of a series of massive bills was signed and out the door for the American people, a $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package for states, businesses, and families. This was followed in November by a $1.1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill with $550 billion towards new projects including internet access, roads and bridges, airport modernization, and "the most funding for Amtrak since the passenger rail service was founded in 1971." This turned out to be the "largest infusion of federal investment into infrastructure projects in more than a decade." Then, in his second year as President, Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Boring names aside, these two bills are credited with the current manufacturing boom in the United States from a five-year high of $82 billion in 2019, to $231 billion in April 2023. But every presidency is met with challenges and events started to occur that were largely out of his control: Ukraine, inflation, and Israel. While these situations would be a challenge for any president, it is actually quite remarkable how well they were handled. The president vastly strengthened and united the world around NATO, while severely reducing Russia’s military without a single American life lost. Keeping the economy strong and healthy as the Federal Reserve and economists feared only a recession would help inflation. Remember Silicon Valley Bank? And finally, toeing the extremely difficult line of supporting our closest ally in the Middle East while also being stern and steering a bad actor in Prime Minister Netanyahu into making the right decisions and saving innocent lives.
But then the debate performance happened, and voters began to grow worried. I don’t want to talk about media narratives and candidate Biden vs President Biden. The decision has been made. But the decision in itself is a truly remarkable one that we have not seen in modern American history. Joe Biden has willingly given up the most powerful position on the planet. This was his choice, he didn't have to make it. There was not a single person in the country who had the agility to overrule his will. It is almost too poetic to see the President willingly give up power after being elected over another who desperately tried to cling to it. As Former President Obama said in a statement today, "we’ve also been reminded — again — that he’s a patriot of the highest order." Biden fought, argued, stood tall, but the mood still wouldn’t break. And so he chose to not seek reelection.
I do not want to speculate on whether or not this was the right decision. I am still not sure. There are still about 3.5 months until the election, quite a while in political terms. But I am sure about one thing: Joe Biden is a great man and he was what the country and the world needed after the disaster that was and is Donald Trump. His kindness and patriotism was central to every action he took in his long life of public service. Fundamental human decency was at the core of his being. Whatever happens in the election, this was an extremely difficult decision made by a good man. There appears to be no other reason for this predicament than his age, a difficult fact for any to swallow. We will see the impacts of his legislative accomplishments for decades to come and his name will be in history books forever as the 46th President of the United States of America. But he will also be remembered as the man who showed us once again what it means to be a public servant. I don’t think he wanted to bow out, but he saw the safety of the nation was more important than his wants. Perhaps with Washington in his heart, he chose to not seek power.
David Axelrod, as the pressure began to build for Biden to bow out, observed "history will be kinder to him than voters were in the end." I couldn’t agree more. Thank you President Biden, for being the old oak tree for the country to rest under after the storm. Thank you for being a kind and decent man. Thank you for your service to our nation.
#FitzFile
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