Capitol Hill Blue Forums Capitol Hill Blue Opinions CHB Columnists Face it! Biden is too old to seek another term

I tend to view happenings, events, issues, candidates, politicians through the eyes of election perspectives. Trump has been at his best helping democrats win elections in 2018,2020 and 2022. If around for 2024, I’m positive Trump will do all he can to help the Democrats once more. I believe without Trump and his choices of very poor-quality candidates that many independents viewed as extreme, that red wave probably would have happened. I view Trump as the best election winning asset the Democrats have going for them. There’s no danger of Trump ever winning another election; hence I place Trump into the has been category. Yes, trump still has power within the republican party, but that power is also working in the Democrats favor.

What the Democrats in my humble opinion need to worry more about than Trump, is someone on Trump’s enemies list or some non-Trump chosen MAGA candidate winning the GOP nomination. Examples may be DeSantis who’s on Trump enemies list, at least his name calling list, a big plus for winning the independent vote. Independents view DeSantis positively, then there’s my governor, Kemp, New Hampshire’s governor Sununu, Ohio’s DeWine, all viewed positive by independents. By positive, I mean their favorable is higher than their unfavorable. Election wise, I’d be a heck of a lot more worried by the examples I cited than Trump. If I were a democrat, I be hoping Trump is the GOP’s presidential candidate or the republicans go with a Trump chosen candidate considering the likes Walker, Oz, Lake, Masters, Cox, Diehl, Bolduc, Laxalt, Tshibaka, Mastriano and more who all lost because they were viewed too extreme by independents .

Oh, you’re correct, somehow the Democrats last midterm made the election more about Trump than about Biden and company. Kudos to the Democrats.

I admit that I have mixed feelings about Biden being elected to another term, even as I think it is likely. Seriously, I do.

I was inspired by Nancy Pelosi convincing her deputies to retire at the same time, and turning the reins over to the next generation. I think Biden is likely to do that as well, but only after reelection. There is a huge advantage to incumbency, and the Republicans are daily providing a contrast between his getting things done and their wallowing in the gutter.

He is becoming frailer, it is apparent. But, he still has the wherewithal to hire well, push in the right direction, and negotiate for results. Who else can claim those qualities that is waiting in the wings?

I think there’s plenty of talent waiting in the wings. If I were a democrat, I’d use it and not wait for 4 years. It’s Biden’s choice though, retire or keep pushing. I doubt anyone will challenge Biden if he does decide to run for reelection. History hasn’t been kind to sitting presidents that were challenged within their own party. Of the five sitting presidents who were challenged, their party lost all five general elections. Truman challenged by Kefauver and LBJ challenged by McCarthy decided not to run, IKE and Nixon won. Ford by Reagan, Carter by Ted Kennedy, G.H.W. Bush by Buchanan all lost in the general election, Ford to Carter, Carter to Reagan, G.H.W. Bush to Bill Clinton.

A Biden vs. Trump has them basically tied today.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2024/president/us/general-election-trump-vs-biden-7383.html

I’d be leery about that same matchup; most Americans don’t want it. Only 28% of all Americans want Biden to run again, 33% want Trump to run again. Of Course, all these numbers are dynamic and change constantly. But for over a year now, well over 50% of all Americans don’t want neither one to run again. That is consistency. I’d expect Biden to win again as among independents Biden isn’t disliked as a person while they very disappointed in the job Biden has done, giving Biden a very high job disapproval. Whereas Trump is disliked as a person. That is an important distinction as history has shown folks usually won’t vote for someone they dislike.

If he runs that old the job will kill him before he can finish. His walk is getting a bit iffy and that's just for starters. All the old guy signs are there. It will be a bad mistake but I expect him to do it anyway. So far he has been able to get a lot of stuff done and wants to keep on going. I can understand that but.........

Civilian life does not exist for Biden anymore.
It's not like he can just go back to being Friendly Joe, not the way Obama was able to go back to just being Barack.
For instance, Joe Biden is a motorhead but he will NEVER EVER be allowed to just hop in his dark green Corvette and go for a cruise, something he used to enjoy doing very much.



So you almost can't blame him for being resigned to the idea that he may very well "die at his desk" the way FDR did.

Civilian life may not exist for many of us depending on one’s definition of civilian life. 21 years active duty, another 26 working for the army as a department of the army civilian. Then in retirement my friends and neighbors where I live are all either retired military, dependents of the military or those who worked as a contractor for the military. To me a civilian is someone who’s not in the military, not on active duty. I became a civilian when I retired from active duty back in Sep 1986. I imagine a policeman would look at a civilian as being someone not in the police and so on. To me politicians are civilians. They don’t don a uniform.

For jgw, it’s Biden’s choice. I’d prefer he announce his retirement sometime later this year and turn the reins over to a younger generation. I’m not talking old foggies like Warren and Sanders or those who ran before. A fresh, young face. The talent is there between governors and younger senators. But my druthers mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I have to wonder if he in fact wants to pass while in office. That would be a mark in history forever. So, I too think he will run again. Personally, I prefer if he wouldn't.

All I can say is, once you've been President, you will never ever return to the same civilian life you had prior.
Back before WW2, perhaps it was possible. But ever since the Kennedy assassination we are forced to reckon with the issue of security, and ex-presidents did not have Secret Service protection after leaving office until 1965.

There is a return of SOME kind of semblance of "private" life but every waking hour is now covered by security concerns. An ex-president can't drive, go alone on a fishing trip, stop by the local hardware store, frolic at the beach; literally anything and everything that they do in the outside world now has to be logistically planned and mapped out.

The truth is, there is no private life for an ex-prez.

There is at least some private life - enough to be able to scuttle classified docs back and forth between the pool house and the private residence.

And that's pretty much all of it.