By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
Certain political pundits are raising the possibility that Democrats will lose control of the House and a break-even position in the Senate if President Joe Biden is not persuaded to announce that he is a one-termer.
Such a dramatic turn of events also would mean that Democrats would have the opportunity to pick a nominee in 2024 who would not be burdened by the economic chaos now overwhelming the White House.
At 79, Biden appears to be struggling at times with the consequences of aging. He has stumbled on airplane ramps, misspoken in speeches, had trouble remembering things, crashed his bicycle, and looked and acted in other ways like he no longer has the physical or mental stamina for the toughest job on the planet.
This honorable man from Delaware has served our nation for more than 40 years and apparently saved our democracy with his 2020 victory over the 76-year-old innkeeper who held the office before him.
And now he has become the latest high-profile celebrity to be infected with Covid.
But he alone is not responsible for the highest inflation in 40 years or the greed-driven prices we are paying for gasoline and groceries or the climate change-produced severe weather that threatens our very existence or the deadly pandemic that won’t go away or the crazy gyrations of the international supply chain.
I stopped that previous 52-word paragraph without adding the shakiness of the stock market or the threats to free elections or the refusal of many states to consider legal abortions for the victims of rape and incest or the latest epidemic of gun violence or whatever else keeps us from having a good night’s sleep.
We should be terrified by the notion that our democracy could become a theocracy where church and state are not separated, and native-born white folks with the most firearms make all the rules.
Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com.