The more this wacky, unpredictable and utterly exasperating presidential campaign summer drags on, the more difficult it becomes to understand why so many high-salaried and supposedly auspiced individuals appear increasingly incapable of taking some sort of action that might instill confidence from anyone other than blind faith devotees.
The most recent chain of events that has taken President Biden off the grid for a third consecutive weekend, currently “recovering” from COVID-19 at his Delaware beach house, has left his brilliant team to be the mouthpiece for his campaign. But per NBC NEWS’ Yamiche Alcindor, they’ve done little more than throw oil on this dumpster fire:
A call Friday featuring Vice President Kamala Harris and about 300 major Democratic donors left many who dialed in frustrated, with one donor declaring it “ludicrous” shortly before it ended, according to two sources familiar with the call.
One person on the call referred to it as “mismanaged” and “rushed.” They added expectations had not been managed well and some participants left feeling admonished. “It was a total failure,” said one source who was on the call and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide a candid assessment. “It was damaging. It was poor planning.”
And colleagues Mike Memoli and Kelly O’Donnell dropped an update yesterday that reflects the level of strategic acumen at work while our “ailing” leader utters nary a public word:
As President Joe Biden faces a wave of new calls from elected officials to end his re-election bid, his political allies are actively exploring ways to publicly demonstrate he still has widespread support among key elements of the Democratic Party’s base, according to three Democrats familiar with the discussions.
The new effort is aimed at turning the pressure campaign against Biden back on party insiders by seizing on anger and frustration among some voters who feel disenfranchised by attempts to push the candidate they cast their ballots for aside, the Democrats said.
In some cases, the demonstrations of support are organic, coming from organizations and constituencies that are concerned the party infighting is hurting their goal of defeating Donald Trump. They include Black clergy members, Latino community leaders and progressive activists, showing grassroots support for the president.
And it would appear they are drawing some of their energy and resolve from the likes of a certain commentator who has somehow concluded that the way to boost the Biden bid is to give him the same level of anointing that his opponent’s supporters have given him, as THE HILL’s Dominick Mastrangelo wrote earlier this week:
MSNBC host Joy Reid compared President Biden’s COVID-19 diagnosis this week to the shooting that left former President Trump injured over the weekend and pointed out how the two events are being portrayed by the media.
“These two men are both elderly. Donald Trump is an elderly man who, for whatever reason, was given nine seconds to take an iconic photo op during an active shooter situation. Weird situation, we’ll figure that out one day,” Reid said Wednesday evening as part of the network’s prime-time coverage of the Republican National Convention.
The liberal pundit then added Biden “is 81 years old and has COVID.”
Reid wondered out loud of Biden, “Should he be fine in a couple of day, doesn’t that convey the exact same thing? That he’s strong enough, older than Trump, to have gotten something that used to really be fatal to people his age.”
The host then stopped herself, clarifying, “I mean, it’s not exactly the same. … It’s not the same incident, but it’s an elderly man coming through, out of an illness.”
Not necessarily true, o dyed-blonde paragon of cultural appropriation.
The COVID card is no longer the guaranteed plea for sympathy and prayers that it was, say, when Trump contracted it a month before the 2020 election and his advisors thought that and a photo op revealing a Superman uniform might be impactful. Vaccinations and medications have reduced it to little more than a nuisance, no matter how hard the likes of the Left Angeles TIMES continue to barrage their readerships with weekly multi-thousand word updates on how the quality of wastewater is trending, all the while always throwing in the kind of necessary asterisks such as this one from one of Rong-Gong Ling II’s latest five-alarm fire diatribe from that publication:
Since everyone’s experience with COVID is different and influenced by a number of factors, it’s difficult to quantify how many are experiencing more acute symptoms now compared with previous infections. But anecdotally, including on social media sites, people are expressing shock at how sick they’ve become from the latest subvariants, which have been collectively nicknamed FLiRT.
Anecdotal evidence is, sorry to say, not research. But I’m pretty sure the likes of Jeffrey Katzenburg and some of those within a quick hop of Las Vegas were aware of stories like this when they met with Biden Wednesday afternoon to inform him, perhaps a bit more harshly than he may have preferred, that a growing number of donors have now reached their breaking point–as many publications have quipped, “no more dough until no more Joe”. That came at roughly the same time that California congressman and leading candidate for Senator Adam Schiff called for Biden to end his quest for a second term.
Wonder if the ever-questioning Ms. Reid might infer that news like that might have had as much of an impact on our president’s health than COVID?
And it would appear that even Mr. Biden hasn’t fully gotten the memo about how one who opts to use the COVID card is expected to be a performance artist, as the INDEPENDENT’s Parwinder Sandhu pointed out in a piece from earlier this week:
(The) New York Post reported that the 81-year-old President told reporters at Harry Reid International Airport that he feels good despite the diagnosis. Speaking maskless after leaving Air Force One, Biden said, “I am doing well.” Soon after the report, there were many who criticized Biden for travelling maskless, thus compromising the health of those around him. “Shameful. Not masking in his car or entering or exiting Air Force One, exposing dozens of people to Covid on the aircraft and in his Secret Service entourage. This sets such a bad example, suggesting that you don’t need to mask if you test positive and are out in The future public,” wrote a user on X.
We know the president knows how to wear one the proper way and curry the favor of those who choose to believe the world is still in perpetual 2020 lockdown mode.
We also know that the world of 2024 is unrelentingly judging every single move, every single word, every single inflection from both candidates with the kind of scrutiny that technology and utter panic is amplifying, and there are no signs it will wane anytime before November.
The question is therefore not whether Joe Biden’s track record is meritorious, or even if his health will allow him to continue adding to it in a potential second term. It’s also not whether those that already voted for him now believe they may have been sold a bill of goods, though certainly more than enough polls indicate that a significant amount of them might. The immediate question is whether his current state of health and popularity will allow him to actually run an effective enough campaign to get there.
And in the same manner that a Joy Reid can snark her way through her own apparent on-air campaign for a role in the Harris adminstration by “just asking questions”, I’m merely asking some of my own, not realistically expecting even a volunteer position with anyone as a reward.
I personally know a few people who have had COVID and they’re on the phone and zoom calls regularly, and yes, with the same scratchy throat that Biden’s doctors have allowed he still has. The difference is, they’re not being judged by millions every time they open their mouths and they’re also not being surrounded by “allies” beyond petrified that their own jobs and offices may be at risk.
So c’mon Joe, you can be straight for once. Really, a case of COVID not serious enough for you of all people to eschew your precious mask is shutting you up? And you really, truly believe you can convince enough people that you’re up to the challenge of taking down a more emboldened and perceived superhuman opponent who literally will stop at nothing to take you and your allies down once and for all?
At least give us the courtesy of an honest answer. Because your silence is making many of us a little sicker than even you.
Until next time…