Biden is trying to claw his way back into the spotlight. But not everyone is going to sit around and let that happen.
Now a leading Democrat told Joe Biden to sit down and shut up.
Biden’s Post-Presidency Path: A Call to Rise Above
David Brooks, a prominent New York Times columnist, offered pointed advice to former President Joe Biden during a PBS NewsHour discussion on Friday, urging him to steer clear of revisiting past political battles. Reflecting on Biden’s recent public appearances, Brooks emphasized a forward-looking approach.
“If Joe Biden ever called me to ask what he should do with his post-presidency, I would tell him to ‘be post-political, rise above it and don’t get back in, don’t try to fight old battle,’” Brooks said, advocating for a legacy that transcends partisan divides.
Brooks highlighted the value of former presidents adopting a unifying role, drawing parallels with Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush, who found non-political avenues like humanitarian work and painting to connect with the public.
“What we want from our presidents is not more politics,” he noted. “What we want is somebody who’s post-politics, who can speak to us from a higher level, not in the partisan mud.”
Reflecting on 2024: Biden’s Take on Harris’ Campaign
Biden’s return to the spotlight this week, with interviews on BBC and The View, stirred debate as he attributed Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 election loss to systemic biases like s*xism and racism. Addressing host Geoff Bennett’s question about the strategic merit of claiming he could have defeated Trump, Brooks was skeptical.
“I think he’s empirically wrong about that,” he said. “Kamala Harris ran about as good a campaign as she could. She was saddled with the Biden legacy, an unpopular presidency. Biden would have been saddled by that legacy in addition to his age.”
Biden, however, defended Harris’ campaign timeline, insisting she had ample time to make her case. “She had six months to do so,” he claimed, despite the reality of her roughly 90-day campaign. Brooks interpreted Biden’s stance as a reflection of personal pride.
“He’s a proud man with a chip on his shoulder who feels himself under attack, frankly, in the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, and so he wants to stand up for himself,” he observed.
Defending a Legacy: Biden Rejects Cognitive Decline Claims
On The View, co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin pressed Biden on allegations of cognitive decline detailed in recent books about the 2024 election. Biden firmly dismissed the claims.
“They are wrong,” he asserted. “There’s nothing to sustain that, number one. Number two, you know, think of what we left with. We left with a circumstance where we had an insurrection when I started, not since the Civil War.” He cited challenges like the pandemic and its million-plus death toll, emphasizing his administration’s efforts to address them.
Former First Lady Jill Biden leapt to his defense, challenging the credibility of the books’ authors.
“The people who wrote those books were not in the White House with us,” she said.
“And they didn’t see how hard Joe worked every single day. I mean, he’d get up. He’d put in a full day, and then at night he would — I’d be in bed, you know, reading my book, and he was still on the phone, reading his briefings. Working with staff. I mean, it was nonstop.” Their rebuttal emphasized a desperate commitment to shaping the narrative of Biden’s presidency as one of resilience and dedication.
