The Blaming of Joe Biden
Ms. Davis is the author of “Dear Mom and Dad: A Letter About Family, Memory and the America We Once Knew.” Her father was President Ronald Reagan.
We are now in the final weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency, and I’ve been thinking about the year he had — how different it was from what he hoped last winter as he sought re-election. All presidents think about what they wanted to achieve, in the end, and how Americans will regard them. For some of us, our most vivid memory right now of Mr. Biden is from his televised debate against Donald Trump in June. I’m sure that’s not the moment Mr. Biden wants to be remembered for. But I also know that presidents come to be remembered differently, over time, for better or for worse. Their highs and lows in office, once so clearly and sharply defined, can shift in our perception. I see Mr. Biden differently now from how I did last summer, and I see his last year in office as a window into the messiness of being human.
Like most people who watched the June debate, I was shocked that night at how frail and vague Mr. Biden was. He didn’t seem present. The statements from his aides afterward were what you’d expect — he had a bad night, he was tired from traveling, he was sick. Shortly afterward the president gave a speech in North Carolina and was energetic and focused; “fiery” was how news outlets described him. But the condemnation was already taking shape, from both Republicans and Democrats: America has been deceived; the administration has been lying to us; it’s been a shadow presidency, a cover-up. The fury only grew when Mr. Biden insisted that he was still running for president and was perfectly capable of governing for a second term.
