Smyth: It’s about time to go, Joe
Joe Smyth was the 30-year-old editor of the Delaware State News when he endorsed 29-year-old Delawarean Joe Biden for the U.S. Senate in 1972. Mr. Smyth is now retired, and the opinions expressed are his own.
If former President Donald Trump gets a second term in the White House, Joe Biden will have only himself to blame. By selflessly stepping aside and not seeking reelection, he could almost assure Trump’s defeat in November.
The most kneejerk Democrats and Republicans will vote for whomever their parties nominate, but millions of Americans don’t want to vote for either Biden or Trump. They are the moderate voters who made the difference in 2020 and will likely do the same in 2024.
Biden won in 2020 by promising moderate voters that he would reunite the country and govern from the center. But many of those same voters feel that Biden betrayed them by cutting a deal with Bernie Sanders and embracing a far-left agenda.
As a result, polls show that Biden may be among the few possible Democratic nominees who could lose to former President Trump in 2024, just as Mr. Trump may be among the few Republican nominees who could lose to Mr. Biden.
We can argue about which of the two is the worse choice but doesn’t America deserve better? The two major political parties apparently don’t think so.
The suicidal Republican Party continues to destroy itself by nominating candidates who can’t attract moderate voters and, therefore, can’t win general elections. Now, it’s going to nominate Trump, even though he could lose to Biden, while other choices, such as Nikki Haley, could win easily.
Similarly, the Democrats could almost surely beat Trump if they nominated somebody other than Mr. Biden — especially someone who could appeal to moderate swing voters.
Take Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as one good example. In 2020, Biden barely beat Trump, by only 1%, in Pennsylvania. Gov. Shapiro’s common sense competence has earned him a 59% approval rating, while President Biden has a 39% approval in Pennsylvania. Which of those two would have a better chance of beating Mr. Trump in November?
No need to cite all of Trump’s flaws here, but he has more baggage than all the nation’s airports combined. That’s why so many Americans don’t want to give him a second term — unless their only other viable choice is to give Biden a second term.
In just three years, President Biden’s policies have caused Americans to pay more for almost everything they need — including 21% more for groceries and about $50 billion more every year for electricity.
If he took Econ 101 in college, he must have slept through it. His over-the-top social and green spending have weakened the economy, worsened the federal deficit and endangered future generations.
He has failed to protect America’s borders. His vacillation on foreign affairs has emboldened China, Russia and Iran, and undermined confidence in America around the globe.
Biden’s pathetic vote buying by unilaterally forgiving an estimated $160 billion in student loans (and shamelessly sending emails to the students to take personal credit for the handouts) is an insult to millions of Americans who went to work because they couldn’t afford college or worked their way through college or worked hard to repay their student loans.
Now that he’s in his 80s, things could predictably be even worse if he wins another four years in office.
Yet, after a more-than-50-year career in politics, Joe Biden could improve his historic legacy if he were to announce that — to save the nation from the dangers and uncertainties of a second term for Donald Trump — he’s retiring and leaving the presidential nomination open for August’s Democratic convention.
For the good of your country, Joe, it’s time to go.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
