Joe Biden should withdraw from the presidential race — for multiple reasons.
He should do so for reasons related to a sexual assault allegation, China, and his own age and health.
Let’s take those in reverse order, saving the most controversial, sexual assault, for last.
On age and health, Biden appears to be in a gray area, although some facts are undeniable. The day Biden takes office (if he wins), he would be the oldest man ever to serve as president. An astonishing 32 years ago, he barely survived a horrid double aneurysm in his brain. Most people experience small manifestations of cognitive decline as they age.
What is “gray” is a subjective judgment of where Biden fits on this spectrum. A lot of experienced journalists who should know better have recklessly thrown around the word “dementia” to describe what appears to be a growing number of verbal miscues by Biden. That’s not fair without a medical diagnosis. But even for a stutterer, Biden in recent months seems to be making increasing numbers of misstatements that seem completely unrelated to any speech defect.
Biden owes it to the country to acknowledge that non-dementia-related cognitive decline is common at his age and that physical stamina also tends to diminish — and that if he or those close to him see or sense any of those signs from him, he should opt out of the race. One need not suffer from dementia, nor need one be embarrassed, to admit that one may not be fully up to the rigors of the presidency.
Second, even if Biden is not physically or mentally compromised, he is ethically compromised when it comes to China. This is crucial. China is a nation with evil leaders committed to world domination. Its current crackdown on Hong Kong, its attempts to dominate Pacific shipping lanes militarily, and of course its morally repugnant handling of the coronavirus outbreak are all evidence that the next U.S. president should be fully committed to containing its hegemonic aims.
On this front, Biden is entirely undependable. Amid all the hubbub about his dealings with Ukraine, much of it overblown, what most people missed is that his behavior toward China was far more egregious. By bringing his son to China on Air Force Two, essentially to enable him to snag a sweetheart business deal there, Biden completely compromised his moral standing and his family’s financial standing with regard to these Chinese thugs.
Finally, there is the sexual assault allegation. This issue is complicated. Biden is right that there are discrepancies in the stories of his accuser, Tara Reade, and absolutely right that her claims should be “fully vetted” to “look at the facts, check it out, find out whether any of it, what she says or asserted, is true.”
Yet not only does that stance completely contradict his earlier blanket assertions that women making such claims in the public eye should be automatically believed, but it also contradicts the standards he reiterated just last week that he would apply to college men accused of sexual assault.
Though credibly accused of assault, he insists that adjudication of assault claims should weigh so heavily in favor of the accuser that he has an absolute obligation to live by those standards. Surely, that which would condemn (and effectively convict and ruin the life of) any mere college student should be absolutely disqualifying for the presidency.
No president should be exempt from the standards he or she applies to others. That way lies tyranny. Period.
Because Biden may not be physically or mentally up to the rigors of the presidency, because he is ethically compromised against one of this nation’s three main adversaries on Earth, and because he says even the slimmest levels of corroboration for sexual assault should be dispositive even though his own accuser easily exceeds those standards, Biden is not fit for the office.
HH
Article URL : https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/joe-biden-now-demonstrably-unfit-for-the-presidency-should-step-aside