Okay, it’s been, what, two weeks since President Joe Biden, in a nationally televised message, graciously ended his campaign for another four years in the White House? Well, before we let Mr. Biden slip into old news, silly memes and unfunny caricatures – hey, he’s still president – amid the uncontrolled excitement that’s ensued surrounding his endorsed successor, vice president Kamala Harris, how about we revisit that monumental Sunday evening’s breaking news.
But first, imagine punching a needle through piece of paper then peering through it with one eye while watching Biden’s highly anticipated speech. It started at 8:00 pm Eastern time and ended exactly 12 minutes later. Like a cup of water poured into the ocean we were limited to a 12 minute- repeat, 12 minute – glimpse into the life of an incredible man who has spent over 50 years of his life in service to others, not to mention the unimaginable pain of losing a wife and two children to untimely deaths.
Again, 12 minutes!
His message that Sunday evening was, okay, at times faltering and throat-clearing, yet it was crisp, urgent, full of hope and without hyperbole. It was the epitome of unselfishness, class, leadership and statesmanship. Succinctly it was our typical lovable “Uncle Joe” unvarnished!
But like so many who have admired President Biden for years, I really didn’t want to believe what I was seeing – and hearing – during his infamous, terribly moderated debate performance a few weeks before, the one that more than anything precipitated his decision to step aside.
After that debate I grasped for more assuaging words than what the pundits (including his so-called supporters) called it, chief among them “devastating,” “disastrous,” “pitiful,” “embarrassing,” “doddering,” etc., etc., etc. But other than “fatigued,” “one off” of just an occasional “bad day,” I couldn’t find anything more palliative.
And when it was over, I turned off and stared at the now dark TV screen wishing that Joe could somehow salvage the experience and continue his campaign. But as fate would have it, I instinctively knew that like proverbial wolves licking their chops and circling the carcass, that was just not in the cards.
In stark contrast to what happened back on January 6, 2021, President Biden said after justifiably squeezing in a snapshot of his amazing accomplishments during his time in office, “I have made the choice to put aside my personal ambitions and pass the torch to a newer generation of leaders starting with Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Joe Biden is inarguable is one of the most successful and accomplished presidents in our nation’s history, having been handed a faltering economy and devastating pandemic by the previous administration. Now was his time in office one without missteps and mistakes? Of course not but name me an administration that was.
Now before I bring this brief narrative to an emotional close, my only disappointment with a decision Biden made was, as head of the Judiciary Committee during its intense consideration of Clarence Thomas for a seat on the United States Supreme Court, he disallowed testimony from a credible woman flown in to provide valuable evidence confirming Thomas’ pattern of sexual mistreatment of women, facts that may have torpedoed his nomination. Yes, that’s the shameful Clarence Thomas who has been in the news lately, and for all the wrong reasons.
Oh, I should add that Joe Biden was classy and gracious enough years later to apologize to Anita Hill for his misstep and how she was treated by the Committee.
But on the positive side, I write the piece you’re now reading as a four-year survival of COVID-19 thanks to President Biden’s administration prioritizing the development of vaccines at lightning quick speed, thereby getting doses of Moderna – not bleach, hydroxychloroquine or some other cockamamie remedy suggested by the prior administration – into my arm. Unfortunately, the million plus Americans who lost their lives before, during and after the pandemic was brought under control are not around to thank President Biden as I and untold of us are.
Looking at us through penetrating eyes during his Sunday evening message, Mr. Biden threw down the gauntlet and told us in unambiguous language that history is squarely in our hands and with it a choice between right and wrong, respect versus hate, and unity versus division. He couldn’t have made it clearer than that.
In the end, it was difficult holding back the emotions a day or so later as millions of us watched Doug and Kamala Harris exchange hugs with Dr. Jill and President Joe Biden during their passing the baton at the Biden home in Delaware. I regret that I was not there to give a few hugs of my own (fully vaccinated of course).
So to you, Joe from Scranton, you will always be our man.
Always.
Terry Howard is an award-winning writer. He is a contributing writer with the Chattanooga News Chronicle, The American Diversity Report, The Douglas County Sentinel, Blackmarket.com, recipient of the 2019 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award, and third place winner of the 2022 Georgia Press Award.
