Late Tuesday night, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius stunned permanent Washington with his most recent op-ed calling for President Joe Biden not to run for reelection in 2024 due to his advanced age. The piece was sure to set Biden off when he woke up from his nap.
In the piece titled "President Biden should not run again in 2024," Ignatius starts off by absurdly praising Biden’s record in the White House.
“Joe Biden launched his candidacy for president in 2019 with the words we are in the battle for the soul of this nation. He was right. And though it wasn’t obvious at first to many Democrats, he was the best person to wage that fight,” Ignatius wrote. “He was a genial but also shrewd campaigner for the restoration of what legislators call regular order.”
Ignatius decided to show the world how delusional he was by claiming “Biden has had a remarkable string of wins.” “What I admire most about President Biden is that in a polarized nation, he has governed from the center out,” he laughably claimed.
He then got to the point of his column: “I don’t think Biden and Vice President Harris should run for reelection.”
“It’s painful to say that, given my admiration for much of what they have accomplished,” Ignatius lamented. “But if he and Harris campaign together in 2024, I think Biden risks undoing his greatest achievement — which was stopping Trump.”
Ignatius accurately writes “Biden would carry two big liabilities into a 2024 campaign. He would be 82 when he began a second term.”
“Because of their concerns about Biden’s age, voters would sensibly focus on his presumptive running mate, Harris. She is less popular than Biden, with a 39.5 percent approval rating, according to polling website FiveThirtyEight,” Ignatius pointed out. “Harris has many laudable qualities, but the simple fact is that she has failed to gain traction in the country or even within her own party.”
He then explained how Biden never had the discipline to say no to tempting situations:
Biden has never been good at saying no. He should have resisted the choice of Harris, who was a colleague of his beloved son Beau when they were both state attorneys general. He should have blocked then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which has done considerable damage to the island’s security. He should have stopped his son Hunter from joining the board of a Ukrainian gas company and representing companies in China — and he certainly should have resisted Hunter’s attempts to impress clients by getting Dad on the phone.
Biden has another chance to say no — to himself, this time — by withdrawing from the 2024 race. It might not be in character for Biden, but it would be a wise choice for the country.
He then pleads with Biden to step aside: “Time is running out. In a month or so, this decision will be cast in stone. It will be too late for other Democrats, including Harris, to test themselves in primaries and see whether they have the stuff of presidential leadership.”
