I DOUBT THAT HE REASSURED ANYBODY.

Has it been less than a week since I weighed in on the sham that has been the Biden presidency?

Biden is establishmentarian who will govern as centrist. Strike 1. ⚾️

Voters remorse tied to "laptop is 🇷🇺 disinformation.
Strike 2. ⚾️⚾️

Basement strategy seemed prudent during pandemic and era of mean tweets, revealed as hiding the decline.
Strike 3. ⚾️⚾️⚾️ #BidenIsAFailure https://t.co/6PWr2M24zT

— Stephen Karlson (@StephenKarlson) July 19, 2024

I was willing to give Our President the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he figured out that he could go on for another five or six months, but that betting against the actuarial tables for four more years gave him pause.

I'm continuing yesterday's post that observed, "In the presence of continued Official Obfuscation, or perhaps simple incompetence, the conspiracy buffs have a free field."  Our President's recent decision not to seek a second term, followed by a lid lasting a day, and into that information vacuum came the tinfoil hat brigade.  "Into the void left by the amazing disappearing president appeared all manner of theories about what is going on. Some wilder than others. Was the president faking his Covid? Did Biden even sign his own announcement? Is he much sicker than his aides and doctors are letting on? Is he even. . . alive?"

Let's say that when he went on the air, allegedly around 8 pm Washington time, the fears of the conspiracy buffs were not assuaged.  "Appearing very frail, the president addressed the nation from the Oval Office in what was billed as an explanation of why he abruptly stepped aside as the Democratic Party nominee."  You don't have to search far, dear reader, to find observations about the background light (the talk might have been recorded at the Oval Office set, not the real Oval Office) or about what might be recent scars.

Whatever.  On to the speech itself.  It's hard to sell "good to go for a little while;" even Lyndon Johnson, who did consider his failing health when he abdicated, concentrated on what he had done and what he recognized as electoral realities.  Pravda-on-the-Hudson has the transcript of the speech.  It begins, as one might expect, with a lot of preliminaries.

On those rare moments in history, when the decisions we make now determine our fate of our nation and the world for decades to come, America is going to have to choose between moving forward or backward, between hope and hate, between unity and division.

We have to decide: Do we still believe in honesty, decency, respect, freedom, justice and democracy. In this moment, we can see those we disagree with not as enemies but as, I mean, fellow Americans — can we do that? Does character in public life still matter? I believe you know the answer to these questions because I know you the American people, and I know this:

We are a great nation because we are a good people. When you elected me to this office, I promised to always level with you, to tell you the truth. And the truth, the sacred cause of this country, is larger than any one of us. Those of us who [carry] that cause cherish it so much. The cause of American democracy itself. We must unite to protect it.

That's rich, coming from a guy who, back when he still could go out at night, was juiced on triple espressos in front of Independence Hall as staged by Albert Speer and directed by Leni Riefenstahl in order to brand anyone who voted against his socialist plans as "ultra-MAGA."  That after taking the office on the strength of a lie, a basement strategy sold as a pandemic precaution as well as a reassurance that we could sleep at night, not wondering what social media follies we would have to roll our eyes at over morning coffee.  We now know it was concealing the dementia.  "Contemptible," notes Power Line's John Hinderaker.

The next two paragraphs clarify that it's not about democracy.

In recent weeks, it has become clear to me that I need to unite my party in this critical endeavor. I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future, all merited a second term. But nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition.

So I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. It’s the best way to unite our nation. I know there was a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. There’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.

Note, party first, not country first, no matter how much material the smarmy Jon Meacham plagiarizes from past presidents.  Only then comes Our President's claim, such as it is, that he's good for the next six months.

Over the next six months, I will be focused on doing my job as president. That means I will continue to lower costs for hard-working families, grow our economy. I will keep defending our personal freedoms and civil rights, from the right to vote to the right to choose. I will keep calling out hate and extremism, making it clear there is no place, no place in America for political violence or any violence ever, period. I’m going to keep speaking out to protect our kids from gun violence, our planet from climate crisis as an existential threat.

I will keep fighting for my Cancer Moonshot, so we can end cancer as we know it because we can do it. I’m going to call for Supreme Court reform because this is critical to our democracy — Supreme Court reform. You know, I will keep working to ensure American remains strong, secure and the leader of the free world.

Good grief.  Rocket science is straightforward compared with figuring out cancer let alone poverty.  Are these policy initiatives not something in a future Harris platform?  Old Joe being Old Joe, though, he couldn't resist making stuff up.

I’m the first president of this century to report to the American people that the United States is not at war anywhere in the world. We will keep rallying a coalition of proud nations to stop Putin from taking over Ukraine and doing more damage. We’ll keep NATO stronger, and I will make it more powerful and more united than any time in all of our history. I will keep doing the same for our allies in the Pacific.

The Navy in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea might have something to say about that.  The stand-off continues in Ukraine, with no exit strategy in sight.  And the sugar high from printed money might be wearing off in China before it wears off here.  From there come a few more paragraphs of boiler-plate along with the usual Washington conflation of "legislation" with "accomplishment."

Today we have the strongest economy in the world, creating nearly 16 million new jobs — a record. Wages are up, inflation continues to come down, the racial wealth gap is the lowest it’s been in 20 years. We are literally rebuilding our entire nation — urban, suburban and rural and tribal communities. Manufacturing has come back to America. We are leading the world again in chips and science and innovation. We finally beat Big Pharma after all these years to lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors.

And I’m going to keep fighting to make sure we lower the cost for everyone, not just seniors. More people have health care today in America than ever before. I signed one of the most significant laws helping millions of veterans and their families who were exposed to toxic materials. You know, most significant climate law ever, ever in the history of the world. The first major gun safety law in 30 years.

The role of the governors in free states who opened their economies sooner in that history will be the stuff of future doctoral dissertations, assuming there are dissertation advisors with any integrity left.  No refutation, though, of Power Line's Scott Johnson, who claimed, "He has been muscled aside by the Democratic establishment led by Barack Obama and tossed in the waste basket like a used tissue."