Joe Biden’s swansong last night at the Democratic National Convention was not quite the gracious passing-of-the-torch moment we were led to expect. Rather than building a compelling case for the election of Kamala Harris, the President seemed more interested in rattling off his own accomplishments and relitigating old battles with Donald Trump.
The speech came after introductions from his wife and daughter that appeared to paint Biden as still nomination-worthy, despite his decision to withdraw from the 2024 race. This set an odd tone for what was ostensibly meant to be a handover to Harris, as Biden spent much of his time recounting his administration’s successes, from job creation to climate legislation to prescription drug reform. The result was a scattershot monologue that veered between angry defiance and wistful nostalgia.
There were revealing moments. “I’m so damn old,” Biden admitted at one point, before pivoting to an oddly phrased non sequitur about gun violence that, amazingly, does appear to check out: “More children in America are killed by a gunshot than any other cause in the United States.”
His warnings about the threat to democracy posed by Trump and “MAGA Republicans” have lost some punch through sheer repetition. In one breath, he painted a picture of a nation on the brink: “This will be the first presidential election since January 6. On that day we almost lost everything about who we are as a country, and that threat is still very much alive.” Yet moments later, he pivoted to unabashed American exceptionalism: “Name me a country in the world that doesn’t think we’re the leading nation in the world.” This whiplash-inducing contrast between impending doom and unparalleled greatness seemed designed to both frighten and flatter the audience, but it came across as confused and contradictory.
Biden takes a lot of pride in his accomplishments around unions and worker protections, and he went out of his way to assure the crowd that he was still their guy: “I’ve got five months left in my presidency. I’ve got a lot to do. I intend to get it done.” Is he worried that Harris could wreck what he considers his legacy as the first “picket-crossing president?” The speech certainly gave that impression at times, as Biden played up his own record while only grudgingly acknowledging Harris as his successor. “All this talk about how I’m angry at all those people who said I should step down: that’s not true,” he insisted, as if still trying to convince himself.
The President’s speech contained further boasts, some of which teetered into hyperbole. “When Trump left office,” he claimed, “Europe and Nato were in tatters.” He then proceeded to take credit for more or less single-handedly repairing these relationships: “I spent about 190 hours in total with my counterparts as heads of state in Europe to strengthen Nato…[and] we united Europe.” Such grandiose claims not only stretch credulity, but also raise questions about whether Biden trusts Harris and her running mate Tim Walz to maintain these purported diplomatic triumphs.
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SubscribeI was asleep during Joe Biden’s speech. Presumably, so was he.
If this is the best you can do then I suggest you go back to sleep, gramps
Obviously, you’d expect self-congratulating back-slapping at their own convention but the Dems remain consumed by TDS. It’s as if they still can’t believe Trump won in 2016 and could win again. They keep telling everyone how awful The Donald is yet people still vote for him. How frustrating.
Since Trump didn’t start WW3 or ruin the economy the first time around the Dems need a new line but the invasion of Ukraine, the economic growth of the BRICS alliance and the increase of Iranian regional meddling by proxy has happened on Biden’s watch. Israel battle with Hamas has exposed rampant anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist vitriol on the Left. The US has been unable to ensure security for commercial traffic in the Red Sea. China still covets Taiwan. Awkward.
Does Biden actually have any past glories? He wants to spend the remainder of his term with unfinished business. Like re-working the multi-billion dollar student loan forgiveness boondoggle that was rejected a year ago. I’m sure Harris will be glad to be saddled with that. I agree with the article that this is an awkward few months as even loyal Dem supporters must see that Biden was given the choice of ‘walk away or we’ll drag you out”. Can Harris establish herself as commander-in-chief material or is she just Giggles, the talking Dem policy doll?
And don’t you just have to smile and shake your head at the re-written narrative of Biden’s exit where ‘cognitive decline’ was scratched out and replaced with ‘old age’? Sure. Whatever you say.
I started to watch him but couldn’t. Biden screams and yells too much. It’s like watching an episode of the ‘Bear’ which I have stopped watching for the same reason. What was interesting about the DNC convention last night was how often Trump’s name was spoken. The Dems seemed insecure and tentative. The Dems seemed less than jubilant. Their ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ was hanging out there. I couldn’t recall one instance during the RNC Convention when Biden’s name came up, which was rather refreshing. The RNC just rejoiced in the nomination process and the candidate Trump.
That tells you a lot about the Donkeys – all they have in common is hate, a hate for Trump. Why?
Maybe because he is rich, successful as President, beat darling Hillary, reduced unemployment to 50 year lows, kept inflation below 2%, completed 3 ME peace agreements, reduced illegal immigration by talking to people, is stealing away black and Hispanic voters, had the Teamsters president at the RNC, kept Iran on its back foot by killing Soleimani, told NATO to shape up, got Kim to back off, kept Putin from acting, identified China as an enemy, and was funny all along as he dispatched rude tweets.
It’s worth noting that he lost the popular vote to Hillary by millions, and he is the only president in modern history to leave office with a net loss in jobs. Job creation was on an upward arc on the tail end of the Obama presidency. That continued for a while under Trump. But by the time Trump left office he had blown up the national debt and America had far fewer jobs than when Obama left office. He also did a pretty poor job stemming the flow of illegal immigrants.
“an oddly phrased non sequitur about gun violence that, amazingly, does appear to check out: ‘More children in America are killed by a gunshot than any other cause in the United States.’”
It only checks out because they define as “children” all those hundreds of older teens directly involved in crime or crime-adjacent street battles, sometimes over drugs but more often over some petty “diss” that must be avenged. Guess why they use this obviously unsuitable term.
DNC also count suicides, which is over half of death by firearms.
CDC reports 2022 stats firearm deaths
26,993 suicides / 19,592 murders / 472 accidental / 649 law enforcement / 411 misc. This disproves the myth that police are freely shooting minorities. from Statista.com, numbers don’t match. Demographic breakdown of police homicides in 2023 are 495 white (rate 2.4) / 282 black (rate 6.2) / 201 Hispanic (rate 2.7) / 15 Asian / 12 American Indian / 8 Pacific Islander / 256 undetermined (mixed). Blacks shot by police when divided by 50 states is about 6 per year. Rate is higher for blacks because black males (6% of population) commit about 52% of all murders. Los Angles metro had most shootings followed by Phoenix, San Antonio, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, NYC. Vast majority of shooting homicides (640) were a once an year event by a police department. Police dept with two homicides totaled 99.
Thanks for this. For even more helpful statistics that refute the lie of ‘systemic racist cops’ see also https://vookes.substack.com/p/love-in-the-time-of-covid-32
‘Youth ages 11 to 17 were more likely to be killed by someone they knew, especially friends and acquaintances. Their deaths were commonly tied to arguments and crime.’
https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/newsletter/ojjdp-news-glance-marchapril-2023/child-homicide-leading-cause-death-and-rates-are-rising
We are ALL more likely to be killed by someone we know than a stranger. That’s been true forever. Is the idea here that being killed by a stranger is worse that being killed by a friend? Is that meant to be more palatable?
I’m not sure how you think this somehow makes it better. It’s a pretty damning statistic for any country even if it’s because your kids are blowing their own brains out, or killing each other over petty nonsense. How is this not a huge crisis?
Something in what Author conveys. However Biden along way behind Trump on the ‘undignified-ometer’ when it comes to speech making.
Depends on how much you like bumbling lies, gross exaggerations of past accomplishments and meandering off into the wilderness of garbled sentences. You clearly like it a lot.
I think you are talking about Trump here. One needs to be brainwashed to not see the endless habitual unceasing lies, and he has become such a bore. He’s not even entertaining anymore.
Self awareness isn’t really your thing, is it?
Apparently Starmer is awarding him a knighthood.. arise Sir Niall de Mentia…
Don’t try to be funny – it really doesn’t work.
I’m the resident wit around here. Watch and learn…
Not wit. Nit.
Nitwit?
‘“More children in America are killed by a gunshot than any other cause in the United States.”
In 2021, the firearm homicide rate for Black children was 11 times higher than for White children.
This is usually attributed to systemic racism …..
watermark.silverchair.com/peds.2023-061296.pdf
Biden :- ‘“I’ve been blessed a million times in return. I’ve been too young to be in the Senate because I wasn’t 30 yet and now I’m too old to stay as president.”’
This was applauded by Nancy Pelosi, who is 84.
“More children in America are killed by a gunshot than any other cause in the United States.”
This is not true.
How can we take Mr Bateman seriously as an historian or journalist when he can’t even properly fact check Biden’s lies.
Compare and contrast Biden’s dignity and eloquence with the rambling lies, nonsense and venom that passes for a Trump speech and tell me who is suffering cognitive decline.
Here’s a hint – it ain’t Joe!
It may be you.
Clearly not, old boy – I am in my prime, as Miss Brodie would have said!