If You're Preoccupied With Joe Biden's Age, You Need to Do Better

Susan Walsh / AP fileSo, what is actually happening here?In the wake of the first presidential debate, I’ve watched members of the media, high profile talking heads, and millions of voters frantically pushing the panic button, calling for Joe Biden to step down and encouraging sky-is-falling histrionics. Now, I expect this from a cultic Republican Party prostrate before a traitorous sociopath and a myopic media intoxicated on the circus of sewage he daily generates, but seeing it from supposedly rational people who claim to be awake and paying attention to the issues is disheartening. Yes, Joe Biden is old. He was old when he won four years ago.He’s also an intelligent, compassionate, reasonable human being who has served this nation faithfully and is currently serving it at an extremely high level. He is a proven leader who understands the diplomacy, nuance, and compromise required to get things accomplished. He deftly led this nation following an insurrection, through COVID, and out of an inflation that much of the world is still in the throes of.He has continued to combat price gouging, student loan debt, gas prices, and a myriad of attacks on human rights, while contending with the most openly corrupt, brazenly traitorous, and violently predatory cadre of Republicans in Congress in our history.And the most shortsighted (and frankly ignorant move) for any Americans of voting age not swept up in the MAGA cult, is making this about Joe Biden alone to begin with. This is about the team of qualified and responsible adults he has surrounded himself with and the agenda of his party as a whole—which when contrasted with the alternative shouldn’t require a second thought.Joe Biden is old. Republicans stacked the Supreme Court with lawless monsters.Joe Biden is old. Republicans joyously overturned Roe V Wade and are targeting IVF and birth control.Joe Biden is old. Republicans are putting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.Joe Biden is old. Republicans are coming for marriage rights, voting rights, Social Security, and Medicare.Joe Biden is old. Republicans are legislating the Bible.Joe Biden is old. Republicans are banning books and outlawing gender-affirming care.Joe Biden is old. Republicans are protecting guns instead of school children.Joe Biden is old. Republicans are planning Project 2025 to immediately establish theocracy.Joe Biden is old. Donald Trump is a court-established rapist and fraud who paid off off a porn star he was sleeping with in order to manipulate an election, and he is likely guilty of high crimes against this nation and is being shielded by judges who are beholden to him.This is the moment when we as Americans need to embody our best, most sober, most serious selves and to refuse to be distracted by the noise intended to move us from the task of defending the most elemental freedoms we are so perilously close to losing.A note to young and first time voters: I understand that seeing too older white guys in suits makes it difficult to get excited about voting and makes it easy to assume that there are similarities between the candidates, but regardless of what the media and TikTok commentators may say, this simply isn’t true. They differ in nearly every meaningful way.It’s important to understand that you have been born into women’s, marriage, healthcare, and voting rights that were not always realities, even if you have always experienced them. For decades, they were fought tirelessly for by Democrats including Joe Biden. These rights are under relentless attacks by Donald Trump and the Republicans and they will be torn away if they are allowed to seize power. Women, LGBTQ people, immigrants, people of color, Muslims, Jews, there will be no group spared. Your voice is critical in protecting them.And to progressive/liberal voters who insist on feeding the narrative that the two parties are equally dangerous, I would suggest that this is both intellectually dishonest and factually ridiculous. Regardless of whatever grievances you have against Joe Biden and the Democrats, when you subtract emotional catharsis and the easy high of middle finger posturing, and you look objectively at the bodies of work of the two parties; the legislation they’ve supported, the substance of their platforms, and the nation they’re actively working for and making—any false equivalencies are reckless.Many have said that such talk is an effort to shame you, but honestly, if you can hold the reality of all that you’ve seen and experienced since Trump commandeered the Republican Party and all that is at stake in November, and act as if opting out or protest voting is a responsible choice—you should be ashamed. We don’t get dream candidates who tick every box of our preferences. We get flawed people and parties and the specific results of those we elevate to power through our participation or our abstinence.If the Dems lose in November, America loses. And if the Dems lose, it won't be Joe Biden or the DNC who will be to blame. It will be Left-leaning voters who allowed the media and the Right to manipulate them into fueling the firestorm of meaningless distractions of age and public speaking prowess—when they should have focused on the human, civil, and environmental protections they will be pissing away with a Republican victory.The sole reason Biden ran in 2020 was that he saw the urgency of the moment, realized Trump would likely win, and wanted to spare America a second disastrous second term—and he did. It seems far too many people want to toss this fact aside as prisoners of the momentary news cycle.If President Biden decides to step out of the race then we should passionately embrace whoever replaces him but until that moment comes or if it does not, he and his Administration and party are all that stands between America and its demise.If Joe Biden’s age or his speaking style or his physical appearance or his debate performance are more important to you than beating back the fascism breathing down our collective necks you’re failing America and you need to do better.The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnpavlovitz.substack.com/subscribe