No Biden speech thread?

EyeballKid said:
Ah, so you expected him to give his full medical history over the last several months, and to air details of all discussions with Pelosi, Schumer, et al.

Seems pretty dumb to me.
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Nixon was more self-reflective than Biden in the end. And Nixon still thought he would be vindicated.
 
JeepCSC said:
His letter did that. I expected the WH address to do something of substance on the matter. I didn't expect him to bring out cognitive test results, I did expect him to begin the first draft on what was going through his head last summer when he decided to run and this summer when he decided to not. Self-sacrifice isn't a reason, it's merely a posture.
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I hear you. I disagree, but I hear you. I don't see what would have been gained or accomplished by doing as you described other than satiating people's morbid curiosity. The whole point of the address, as I said, was to be a formal passing of the torch, so that Kamala Harris and her campaign can hit the ground running as fas as possible. It would have been completely inappropriate and unnecessary, IMO, for Biden to take any spotlight off of the new campaign by litigating his day-by-day or hour-by-hour decision-making process.
 
CFordUNC said:
I hear you. I disagree, but I hear you. I don't see what would have been gained or accomplished by doing as you described other than satiating people's morbid curiosity. The whole point of the address, as I said, was to be a formal passing of the torch, so that Kamala Harris and her campaign can hit the ground running as fas as possible. It would have been completely inappropriate and unnecessary, IMO, for Biden to take any spotlight off of the new campaign by litigating his day-by-day or hour-by-hour decision-making process.
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Then we are agreed. As an election speech, it was effective. As any sort of discussion on his presidency or what led him to this point, it was worthless.

When all we see is everything through the election prism, we allow many things to slip through (*cough*Trump*cough*). Electioneering and us getting so effective at it, will be the death of American democracy.
 
I agree with Jeep to a certain extent here ... the speech was extremely well written, essentially as a valedictory, not an explanation. Biden wasn't quite able to make himself say anything specific about why people lost faith in him or wanted him to pass the torch. I didn't watch it live, but from the clips he seemed pretty emotional about it all (understandably) -- from what I've read about his personality, he would have resisted acknowledging or discussing his precipitous aging and its impact on his ability to speak clearly, but I also wonder whether he could have crossed that bridge in this speech without actually choking up.

I did not want Joe to run for a second term but I've cut Joe too much slack in the past; it's why I got to the debate before seeing it as an absolute necessity that he step aside. Maybe I'm falling back into that here. History may judge this speech more along the lines of the critique that Jeep proposes -- I mean, Jeep's not wrong about the lack of introspection about WHY Joe made the selfless act he took credit for -- but I thought he deserved a moment to explain it his way. Maybe I just felt bad for being a voice (not that anyone listened to me in the grand scheme) agitating to replace him on the ticket. I was very surprised at the welling of sadness I had when I saw the news flash on Sunday that Joe had indeed stepped aside as the (not yet official) nominee.
 
JeepCSC said:
Then we are agreed. As an election speech, it was effective. As any sort of discussion on his presidency or what led him to this point, it was worthless.
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When have presidents ever used prime-time speeches to do the jobs of historians? Biden doesn't actually owe anyone an explanation of his decision to pull out of the race. He ran for re-election because he thought he could do the job. He has been doing the job. He's been doing it very well, in fact.

The problem has been his inability to convince voters that he will be able to do it effectively for four more. And that's how democracy works. The voters weren't buying it, and Joe finally realized he wouldn't be able to do it. There's really nothing more to it than that.

It's your right as an American to form your own opinion about the causes of that inability to convince voters. It's not your right to demand that the president flagellate himself on live TV.
 
I will admit I did not even listen to it-yea I saw clips. Once he stepped down and Kamla got the nod-I did not wish to revist the hell we all went through since the Debate Now I will be the first to say that the way this has turned out is fantastic ...better than I could have imagined in my Yellow Dog dreams
 
superrific said:
When have presidents ever used prime-time speeches to do the jobs of historians?
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He doesn't have to do the job for historians, but he should do the job for us Americans. Again, watch LBJ and Nixon's speeches in similar spots. They explained how they got here, and why they were now charting a different path. Biden's speech could have been given by the DNC head on Morning Joe. It had almost no value except as a campaign prop.
 
uncgriff said:
That appears to be Jeep's take
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I don’t care about oratory that much. Biden’s plainness has always been one of his better assets to me. I just thought the speech failed to meet the moment on content. I probably differ with most here that I think yesterday’s moment was hugely important for the country beyond the election.
 
Kraftyheel89 said:
Yes, I used to debate on some conservative matters I still believe in. I would do so again if we ever actually discuss specific policy. I voted Pub for over 35 years but never voted for Trump. I have always been moderately fiscal conservative and moderately social centrist or leaning left.

I have not changed drastically, though I have learned a lot here and probably have moved to the left a little, or I should say driven to the left more.

That is because this MAGA crowd, Trump himself, and the cowardly enabling by conservatives, is something I disagree with vehemently.

MAGAs are not Republicans, or the Republicans have become totally unethical, dishonest, and pandering to the most uneducated, white nationalists, christo-fascists, and cultists among us.
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Thanks for saying this Krafty. I’ll admit you pissed me off a couple of times on the basketball board… but that was just disagreements of normal back and forth on players, coaches, approaches to a game, etc. Typical arguments one might expect on a sports message board.

But your take here: “… the cowardly enabling by (so-called) conservatives, is something I disagree with vehemently” is spot on. I can’t believe more registered republicans can’t get on board with you on this. Kudos Krafty.
 
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