President Biden deserved the warm welcome he received at the Democratic National Convention tonight. The cries and signs of "I love Joe" were heartfelt.
However, as I watched his speech here in Oregon, where it was over well after midnight East Coast time and 9:30 or so our time, which seemed like a crazily late time to showcase what amounted to Biden's farewell to the nation as Kamala Harris is poised to enter the stretch run of her presidential campaign, I keep thinking that a big part of why Democrats love Joe is that Biden had the good sense to withdraw from his reelection effort, which created a strong sense of relief.
If he hadn't done this, I was prepared to watch his speech at the convention as the Democratic candidate, rather than as the guy who made Harris' campaign possible, with undisguised enmity. For until the pressure on Biden to withdraw became too strong for him to ignore, reporting indicated that right up to the end, Biden believed that he could beat Trump.
That wasn't a complete fantasy, but it was damn close to being delusional. The evidence for this is how quickly Harris erased Trump's lead both nationally and in the battleground states, since her candidacy unleashed a wave of enthusiasm that was always there, but was being stifled by Biden's evident inability to run a strong campaign against Trump -- in large part because of his age, but also because he isn't a scintillating speaker.
Those weaknesses were on display tonight, though despite the lateness of the hour, Biden's voice sounded strong, probably because he mostly was reading from a teleprompter. He'll give more speeches before his presidency is over. I'm looking forward to never hearing him say "No joke" or "I'm not kidding" again. I never can understand why Biden feels the need to say these things, since it's obvious from what he's talking about that it isn't a matter of joking or kidding.
By contrast, so far I haven't found anything Kamala Harris or Tim Walz do when they're speaking that irritates me.
Anyway, I think it was great that Biden got his moment in the sun on the first day of the Democratic National Convention. He rolled through his greatest hits, taking justified pride in his many accomplishments as president. It's hard not to like the guy, though Trump and most Republicans are able to do this, no problem.
I'm just happy that he was speaking on Monday, rather than on Thursday, when the presidential nominee speaks. I found his speech kind of boring, but that's to be expected of Biden. He beat Trump in 2020 because the nation yearned for someone unexcitingly normal after four years of Trump's over-the-top craziness.
Now, though, I look forward to backing Harris-Walz, who bring out just the right amount of excitement among voters open to their populist progressive message.
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