The Democratic Party, largely under the influence of Joe Biden, left many of its supporters feeling let down, as noted by former Obama adviser David Plouffe in a segment from Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s latest publication ‘Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again’. The argument holds that the Democrats lost their grip on the presidency due to Biden’s stubborn pride, resulting in surging discontent and derision within the party. Biden became the scapegoat for the many political issues faced by his party, painting an ironic picture of self-deceptive blame allocation.
The plummeting polling figures for the Democratic party were not solely a result of Biden’s failing memory, but the collective decisions made by Democratic congressmen. One such decision was the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act, which economists widely predicted would lead to an escalation in pricing, despite the apparent inability of the Democrats to accept this foresight. The misguided hysteria of ‘semi-fascism’, as adopted by Biden, also seemed to be a popular mantra among party members.
Further pushing its agenda, Biden followed suit on the Democrats’ questionable approach to social science theories about gender, reinforcing the party’s focus on ideology rather than policy. As far as the issue of illegal immigration was concerned, it felt as if the party chose to look the other way, ignoring the chaos it sowed. Confounding as it may seem, this stance did not gain any opposition from within the party, despite a pre-election Pew poll revealing that a majority of 78% viewed the border situation as a crisis.
Biden’s strategic error of failing to pass the baton to another suitable candidate also burdened the Democratic Party. It seems likely that Kamala Harris would have been the chosen nominee, irrespective of Biden’s decision to back out. Could a ‘hyper-ambitious’ politician like Harris, comfortably situated in the White House, have allowed any outsider or lukewarm governor to snatch away the nomination from under her nose?
The post-debate polls showing Michelle Obama’s popularity surpassing Harris’s were short-lived, and it became evident that Harris would be the next in line. Any optimistic assumptions about the additional campaigning time benefiting Harris’s cause proved redundant, as her popularity started falling steadily. The more exposure Harris got, the more unfavourited she became.
Running on the president’s record proved to be a challenge for Harris and other Democrats. The public had already voiced their dissatisfaction with the Democratic policies long before the media started covering the president’s decreasing mental capacity. The Democrats’ tactical decisions had led them into this precarious situation.
Public opinion polls painted a grim picture: only 36% endorsed Biden’s economic policies, while a meagre 28% gave him a thumbs up for his handling of immigration. His foreign policy and approach towards the Middle East gained a mere 33% and 30% approval, respectively. Despite these damning statistics, elections are often won by presenting contrasting visions, and the public perception of the economy under Trump held more favour than Biden’s economic regime.
A CBS poll showed that 65% of the public were more satisfied with the Trump administration’s handling of the economy compared to just 38% for Biden. In such a scenario, could other governors such as Wes Moore, Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, Andy Beshear, or JB Pritzker present a compelling case for themselves to challenge this record? It seems highly improbable.
David Plouffe was among the few Democrats who publicly doubted the prudence of pushing forth a presidential candidate with obvious deterioration in mental sharpness. However, right up to the early presidential debates of 2024, both the party and mainstream media chose to shield this fact, which raised severe questions around transparency and public interest.
The Democratic Party would likely have continued to suppress knowledge of Biden’s mental decline, if not for his exposure in the intense heat of the presidential debate. This sudden revelation induced a reactionary phase in the Left, compelling them to turn on the president. The cover-up exploded into the public light.
A narrated incident in The New Yorker brings into focus the severity of Biden’s cognitive decline: the president could not recognize actor George Clooney during a high-profile Hollywood fundraiser. Yet, despite such glaring signs, a considerable portion of media outlets continued to withhold the truth about the president’s deteriorating mental health from the public, thereby compromising their duty of unbiased reporting.
CNN went as far as labeling claims about Biden’s diminishing cognitive faculties as a complete ‘fabrication’. Adding to this, senior Democrat Chuck Schumer brazenly lied to reporters about the president’s mental competence, just days before the infamous debate. ‘He’s fine. All this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity has declined is wrong,’ Schumer echoed, a statement we now know was far from the truth.
In retrospect, Schumer was reported to conversate regularly over the phone with Biden, who often seemed disoriented and forgetful. Rather than being worried over Biden’s mental state, Schumer’s concern related more to the ‘optics’ of the situation. This shocking revelation highlights how power sometimes overtakes moral responsibility in politics.
The leader of the Senate, in the face of such a crisis, chose to worry about appearance rather than addressing the grave issues concerning the world’s most powerful man — a reflection of the myopic view embedded within the Democratic Party at large. This incident coupled with other political shortfalls underscored the fact that the Democrats have essentially cornered themselves.
The party’s focus was primarily on image preservation, failing to recognize and address the elephant in the room, and this led to the Democrats creating their own predicament. The alliance between the mainstream media and the Democratic Party acted as cogs in the misinformation machinery, creating an echo chamber that refused to acknowledge reality.
In conclusion, Biden’s Presidency experience and the associated troubles were not due to external factors, but an array of self-inflicted issues. The Democratic Party essentially shot itself in the foot by failing to acknowledge and address the glaring problems within its leadership and policy choices. The obsession with maintaining facades rather than confronting issues head on led to their downfall.
The post Dwindling Democratic Faith: Biden At The Helm Of This Decline appeared first on Real News Now.
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