Biden should end his quest for a second term. This is why

Nearly 56 years ago — on March 31, 1968 — President Lyndon Johnson, in a nationally televised address, shocked the country with a straightforward 20-word declaration: “I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president.”

As profoundly painful and as emotionally wrenching as it may be, the time has come for President Joe Biden to tread the path charted by Johnson more than a half century ago.

The time has come for the president’s family, close friends and political confidantes to gather and conclude the deeply difficult conversation with the president is imperative. The moment for ending the quest for a second term is at hand.

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Elected in a landslide — 61% to 38%, 486 electoral votes and 44 states carried — only 38 months before, the Johnson administration was ravaged by the war in Vietnam, a conflict that tore the country apart along economic, age, racial and gender lines and drove him from office.

Biden is not confronted daily by the horrors of a bloody, deeply unpopular war; rather he faces broad public disapproval of his job performance and in dealing with inflation, an economic, humanitarian and public safety crisis  caused by massive immigration and a foreign policy that has divided his party.

biden should end his quest for a second term. this is why

President Joe Biden.

He has now been challenged to the core by the recent devastating portrayal of him as an individual in cognitive decline, beset by a faulty memory and — by implication — unable to serve effectively for another four years as president.

The critique by special prosecutor Robert Hur as part of his investigation of the president’s handling of highly classified material after his vice presidential term ended stunned the Administration and the Biden campaign and intensified scrutiny of his age and general health.

In the tradition of shooting the messenger, the Administration — despite the report’s conclusion that a prosecution of the president would be unsuccessful — accused him of inaccuracies, unfair unethical behavior and partisan political motivation.

The media was singled out — including by the president — as being liable for the torrent of unfair and misleading  coverage highlighting the report’s characterization of him as “a sympathetic elderly man with a poor memory.”

Self-serving lecturing of the media and scolding reporters while shielding the president from exposure and interactions with it are losing strategies at best.

Biden’s physical difficulties — a slow shuffling gait, falls and near falls, loss of balance and laboring to negotiate flights of stairs — have been readily apparent for some time, all common symptoms experienced by an 81-year-old dealing with the effects of advancing age.

It is, though, the incidents of a cognitive decline that have drawn the greatest scrutiny and raised deeply serious doubts about his ability to fill a second four years in office.

Instances of forgetting names and places, claims of conversing with long dead foreign leaders, appearing momentarily bewildered in public settings, uttering sentences which trail off into incoherence and relating fanciful tales of past events and experiences  have risen in frequency and required often embarrassing clarifications and explanations by his staff.

His light daily schedule, refusal to hold news conferences and prolonged absences from the White House for vacations and weekend retreats have combined to amplify the doubts about his ability to withstand the rigors and pressures of a re-election campaign.

His communications staff, presumably under orders from its’ superiors, has struggled with limited success to promote a narrative of a competent, energetic and incisive chief executive and convince the American people to disbelieve what they see and disregard what they read or hear.

Needless to say, their credibility has crumbled. Recent polling, for instance, found an astonishing 80% of respondents believed the president did not possess the mental strength to continue in office.

The president has vowed to remain a candidate despite consistently dismal polling data on his handling of the nation’s most troublesome issues and — of greater peril and concern — his trailing presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Urging him to end his campaign has risen in frequency and severity. Media outlets, heretofore friendly and supportive, have opened their commentary pages to analysts who have called for him to stand aside or run  the risk his flawed and faltering candidacy will lead to a Trump victory in November.

Those in whom the president has placed his trust and confidence must summon the courage, compassion and personal regard for him to convey the need for a graceful and gracious withdrawal and permit the delegates to the party convention to select a candidate.

His friends owe him that. Insisting on the current course will only open him to ridicule and the cruel, hurtful nature of high stakes politics.

Any physical missteps; any memory lapses; any hint of a loss of time and place will be magnified, distorted and turned into comedic fodder.

He does not deserve that. For those in positions of prominence in the Administration who pursue a personal agenda to use their role for aggrandizement, to cling to power or in the hope of future reward, urging the president to seek a second term is a betrayal.

The campaign team and the White House had been at odds over the most effective strategy – keeping the president in a rigidly controlled environment or undertake a more rigorous schedule of public appearances and events to demonstrate a vigorous and in control president.

One faction favors a “vote for me because I’m not him” tactic, relentlessly attacking Trump as a threat to democracy and tapping into what they believe is a widespread popular fear of his presidency that will ultimately lead to support for Biden.

The competing point of view holds that a full on anti-Trump strategy will only go so far and risks becoming a stale and unconvincing message.

The president, they argue, must avoid appearing as if hiding; rather he is most effective when delivering his message of progress and achievement in person, interacting with crowds and even the media while displaying the stamina and vigor to contrast with his depiction as old and out of touch.

Opinion: Biden and Trump are both huge gambles for America. How will we vote?

Both camps, though, must accept realty; must understand that the line has been crossed and a decision can be put off no longer.

Biden is the 10th president to serve the nation since Johnson made his stunning announcement. While the circumstances are dramatically different, for Biden to follow that path would represent an act of equal selflessness.

Carl Golden is a senior contributing analyst with the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Biden should end his quest for a second term. This is why

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