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Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
If the essence of Greek tragedy is that the hero is vindicated for his flaws, Joe Biden gets star billing. He defeated Donald Trump, stood up to Russia, made more reforms than Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and put in place a strong economy. That made Biden a hero to the American left and beyond. However most of his achievements will now be erased. His legacy is the return of Trump. After Biden, you have a flood. Mostly he blames himself.
The flaw of the Greek hero is hubris. Last week Biden he said would have won the 2024 election if he had stayed in the race. This is happening though only 27 percent of Americans last June he thought he had the power to realize being president again. It looks like Trump would have won a very big victory. Whatever credit Kamala Harris deserves, her vote came within 1.5 percent of Trump's.
Much remains to be said about the conspiracy of silence surrounding Biden's waning power. Although he was shielded from press conferences and other off-the-record events, it was an open secret in Washington that his mind was declining. The Biden family's inner cabinet and longtime aides must take some of the blame. It was a media failure. The rare journalist who blew the whistle risked losing access and being discriminated against in the liberal media.
But the buck stops with Biden. If he had redeemed his one-time promise to be a “bridge” to the post-Trump era, the Democratic party would have had time to find a stronger candidate than Harris — someone who could distance himself from the unpopularity of Biden's economy. Instead the isolated Biden was cut off from public sentiment. Of course, the biggest swing for Harris in November came from voters who paid more attention to the news. Trump, meanwhile, swept the low-profile vote by hitting boundaries, regardless of race, income and gender. All right-thinking Americans are with you, a supporter told Adlai Stevenson, a two-time losing Democratic nominee in the 1950s. Yes, but I need more, he joked.
No one said politics is good. Biden helped ensure that the post-Covid US rebounded stronger than any major economy. But the naive world associated with Trump and the pre-Covid era. People blame Biden for inflation – and his incentives have helped hold it back. But voters don't give him the respect of others. It's clear that a majority of Americans polled by Gallup this week say the US has lost ground in six areas under Biden. These were the economy, federal debt, immigration, income inequality, America's position in the world and crime.
In only one area did most say progress was made during Biden's presidency – “the state of gays, lesbians and women”. No data better captures the Biden administration's weaknesses in reporting and leadership. Until he left in July, Biden continued to repeat Trump's threat to democracy, even though his party had known for months that democracy did not appear in his top five concerns.
But it is the majesty of the flawed hero that gives Biden a Greek ending. Beauty and hubris were both present in his personal tragedies. When Biden was vice president, his value was estimated about half a million dollars. After half a century in public life, that was no big mistake. No American intelligence thinks Biden is corrupt. But he ignored his son, Hunter, who wanted to make money for his family even as he became a slave. Biden paid a heavy price for that hobby. Like Othello, Biden did not love wisely but very well.
Ukrainians remember Biden fondly. The same cannot be said for the Palestinians. Amid the devastation of its worst death toll in years, the Gaza Strip is flooded with US weapons provided by Biden. He believes he was doing well to prevent high taxes and stop the war in the Middle East. By bottling up Vladimir Putin's military arsenal in Ukraine, Biden could contribute to the downfall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. But much of the southern world sees Biden as a man who has not stuck to the values he promised. If Trump is seen as a different kind of Biden in many areas — not as fast-moving — it may be the most difficult judgment of all.
Biden promised four years ago to be “a friend of light, not darkness”. He was talking about it. As Biden bids farewell to the nation on Wednesday night, only he will know what it feels like to hand over the stage to Trump.