Happy Trails, Neighbor
Bon voyage from a fellow local
Yesterday, my neighbor announced that he is retiring from his job.
He has been with his firm for more than 50 years, working his way up from the bottom, until he finally became CEO in 2020. He wanted to continue to lead the company for a few more years, but, some recent, shaky public appearances caused him to lose the faith of board members and shareholders.
Ok, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 46th president of the U.S., is not technically my neighbor. The most I can say is that he was less than 10 miles from me in Rehoboth Beach when he made the announcement that he would be withdrawing from the presidential race. Maybe less than five miles as the crow flies.
Plus, this is only his vacation house, his beach getaway. When, he’s not holding national office, he mostly stays in his official residence on the edge of Wilmington.
Of course, until Jan. 20, 2025, Biden will continue to hold national office and thus, as president, will continue to stay in the official White House residence in Washington D.C. He will also spend time at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.
So, no, it’s not like he comes over to borrow things. I’ve personally never seen him, although he was an ex-vice president by the time I moved here. I’ve seen his motorcade, though. And his helicopter.
I was first introduced to Biden through campaign spots in his 1988 presidential run that highlighted his routine, round-trip travel via Amtrak between Delaware and Washington D.C., while serving as senator, a commute that set him very much apart from his congressional colleagues. Later, I came to know him from his frequent television appearances, where he consistently conveyed a signature mix of empathy and bombast.
During one of those interviews, I remember thinking, “that guy would be a fun president.” It wasn’t an admiration based on ideology. Biden reminded me of a tough-exterior coach—maybe football or wrestling—who would smash clipboards and let loose barrages of expletives, but who also loved his players, his team and his community.
Yet, before Barack Obama lifted him from a second failed presidential campaign in 2008 and gave him the vice-presidential slot on the ticket, it seemed as if national office was beyond Biden’s reach. Then, after Obama backed Hillary Clinton over him in the 2016 primary, it seemed that his time in the #2 spot would be the apex of Biden’s career.
However, when Donald Trump upset Clinton in the 2016 election, it opened up a third opportunity for Biden to seek the presidency, in 2020. By that point, his combination of swagger and concern had evolved into a congenial, grandfatherly warmth, the kind that wins over many voters through a simple sense of comfort.
Democratic primary voters appeared to intuit this, as strong majorities voted with their heads for Biden over their hearts, which supported rival candidates whom many Democrats found more exciting. Their pressing need to deny Trump a second term caused them to gravitate toward Biden, whose abilities to convey warmth and sound moderate made him seem like the safest bet—a calculation that would prove correct.
Of course, Biden’s sense of moderateness always lay more in tone than in substance. His voting record in the Senate was that of an average liberal.
However, while he was never a centrist, nothing in Biden’s prior political history portended the sharp left turn he would take once he got to the Oval Office. He had no track record from which to predict that he would seek the largest federal government expansion since World War II or promote a model agenda for social democratic parties around the world. There was nothing in his past that suggested that he would be hailed by supporters of his policies as the most progressive president since FDR or perhaps ever, even.
With the exception of Trump, Biden’s predecessors, going all the way back to George H.W. Bush, more often than not sought conciliation and tried to find middle policy courses—at least on big legislation. Yes, like any president, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr. and Obama tried to “win” policy fights for their parties. But, they didn’t actively seek to make their victories the foundation for ideological revolution.
Biden’s history in the Senate had indicated that he was likely to follow the same course as the others. He had a long track record of demonstrating bipartisan inclinations and a commitment to institutionalism.
For me, this was the most disappointing aspect of the Biden presidency. Once again, my impression is not rooted in ideology. But, implicit in the previous image I held of Biden as a hard-edged-but-soft-hearted coach was the idea that we were all on his roster. In retrospect, it was a foregone conclusion that the coach would have a clearly defined team and would be hellbent on trying to get wins for them alone.
And Biden has delivered them wins. His team isn’t pushing him out because of his won-loss record. If the standings were the only criteria, he’d have their support through at least another contract extension.
He’s being shuffled aside because, recently, he’s been evoking the “grandfatherly” comparisons in a much less positive sense. His conduct of late has been more resemblant of grandparents when their faculties start to slip, and they require growing assistance.
Yet, there is more than a whiff of ageism in his ouster. He’s given almost his entire adult life to his job, and, after more than 50 years of service, he’s being shoved aside to do… what, exactly?
It’s not easy to fill that kind of hole in your life, when the thing that you are being taken away from is just about all that you have ever known. Ask Joe Paterno, the legendary former Penn State football coach, whose Nittany Lions “Scranton Joe” Biden would have grown up watching.
I’ve been thinking about all these things since the news broke that signifies that my neighbor will soon be around a lot more. Mostly, though, I just hope he enjoys his retirement. Whether or not you supported his tenure, he’s earned it.
* Portions of this post have been adapted from my upcoming book The Anti-Partisan Manifesto: How Parties and Partisanism Divide America and How to Shut Them Down (2024).More From :
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