Joe Biden, Dicky Betts, and the Swing Voters

“…well, Lord, Lord, Miss Sally, why all your cryin'? Been around here three long days, lookin' like we're dyin'. Go step yourself outside, and look up at the stars above and go on downtown, baby, find somebody to love…” Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More…The Allman Brothers Band. When Miss Sally gets down town she’ll find 40% of the voting age American public, liberal Republicans, and conservative Democrats, not necessarily needing to love anyone, just looking for someone they can vote for with a straight face. These swing voters should be low hanging fruit for President Biden, but that hasn’t been the case as we approach November 2024. Four years ago, Joe Biden was an accidental candidate. Four years of Trump had exhausted the American people, but Bernie Sanders’s super progressive/socialist platform which was winning the primaries would be dead on arrival in a presidential race across 50 states. So, Joe was the palatable, compromise candidate and came to the White House deeply indebted to minority voters, environmentalists, the ultra-left progressives, and the youth vote. To his credit, he kept his word, paid back his IOU’s, made “inclusiveness” a priority, spent money like there was no tomorrow, took down Trump’s border wall, threw the police under the bus, and then waited to bask in the progressive sunshine. He got to bask for about 15 minutes before the wheels came off—about half of the inclusive appointees weren’t up to the task and left him owning a series of embarrassments. The ultra-left said thanks by saying he hadn’t done enough, and handed him a new list of demands more screwy than the original. The southern border became a well-documented disaster, and worst of all, he couldn’t use a politician’s favorite trick and blame it on somebody else--as Admiral Chester Nimitz famously said, “…you can delegate the authority, but you can’t delegate the responsibility…” Along the way, he’s done some good things and restored a degree of civility in Washington DC, at least to the extent anybody can when dealing with crackpot fringes on the left and right. He’s mended fences with our allies around the world and not hesitated to allow the military to do their job when warranted. So, his re-election should be a walk in the park, right? But, why is he’s neck-in-neck in the polls with a felony defendant who’s campaigning out of a NYC courtroom? You want a guess? Here’s mine and there are several factors (1) the polls are making Trump look stronger than he is (2) Joe Biden’s health, there’s no getting around the fact he looks old, acts old and we live in a society obsessed with youth and appearance (3) Kamala Harris, she’s one heartbeat away from the presidency, and the number of people who want to see her as president can comfortably fit in an SUV (4) he’s spending the country into the poor house (5) the southern border, he’s had four years, a ballpoint pen, and the power of executive orders to do something and hasn’t. So, why should anybody vote for him in November? It’ll probably come down to one thing—his name’s not Trump !!!