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ALL I CAN SEE IS TROUBLE

Writer's picture: Karen LeviKaren Levi

In fighting is never good for the Democratic Party. I am not a professional political scientist, but I have a good memory, was brought up in a politically aware family, and am a keen observer. Seeing the articles I have stopped reading, due to maintaining my blood pressure at a normal level, there is trouble in Washington D.C.



A group of senators are attempting to gain support for President Biden stepping down. The Biden family is fighting with the inner circle of the White House staff. Jill Biden protects her husband. Earlier this week, three governors supported the President. Immediately after the debate, Governor Newsome announced that he had "the President's back." Pundits going every which way. The major newspapers publishing scathing articles about a president who is a doddering old guy; other pieces supporting the integrity of the current leader of the United States. T.V. doctors are recommending medical tests; everybody is an expert on aging viewed from television. Journalists bandying around "cognitive tests," whatever that means. Just about everyone I know saying "he must be tested."




I have bad memories of a string of democratic losses for President--Humphrey, Mc Govern, Dukakis, Carter (second term), Gore, Hillary Clinton. Compare those races with times the Democrats were in unison--Bill Clinton, Barack Obama. Of course, the reasons for each loss are specific and complex.

Election 2024 is nothing if not complicated and messy. The Democrats are fighting to save our Democracy which has become a reality not merely a slogan. An older man, with some unspecified deficits or effects of aging, clearly successful in his first term, is running against a maniac by all standards. A person who lies, deflects, dissembles, and clearly has no understanding of foreign affairs, legislative government, history, and common knowledge, i.e. airports in the American Revolutionary War, electric planes run on solar power, is the representative of the Grand Old Party (GOP)?



Now, everyday and well-known Americans haven been talking about cognitive testing and have no clear definition of what they are requesting--neurological, psychological, motor, speech, intelligence, medical testing? What would be the criteria for Biden "passing" a test? The answers are mind boggling, unscientific, and unethical. Joe Biden is 81 and has led a complicated life of struggles and successes. He is like all Baby Boomers. How would professionals determine what is acceptable and what is not? What would be the criteria? And the proponents suggest that Mr. Biden should be "tested," but the clearly mentally ill opponent should not?



What have we come to? A question I seem to ask every few days. I pray that Biden is telling the truth, as is his family. Joe Biden said that nobody but the "Almighty" could tell him to step down. I hope he is correct in his assessment. On a practical level, I fervently hope Biden can do the job physically. Unless an individual has dementia of some sort, the physical is more readily impaired than the intellectual. We, older people, may have short term memory issues, word finding deficits, fatigue and be slower in our actions, but our thinking based on life experience and accumulated knowledge has increased.



I read that Americans value individualism, defiance, capitalism, consumerism, and that we are less occupied with the truth and history (which some say accounts for Trump's uncanny popularity). I would add that Americans are also obsessed with numbers and prizes--rankings of all kinds, G.P.A., SAT scores, IQ levels, income, and all of the medical numbers thrown at us.

So what score should Joe Biden get on the so-called cognitive test (which does not exist) to determine if a younger person should take his place?


©Karen Levi 2024



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