This is the moment -
My final test -
Destiny beckoned,
I never reckoned,
Second Best!
I won't look down,
I must not fall!
This is the moment,
The sweetest moment of them all!
-Frank Wildhorn, Leslie Bricusse, from Jekyll and Hyde
The political fate of Joe Biden is being likened to a drama---some say he lingers on his choice like a Hamlet twisted into knots by doubt and indecision. But I see Biden’s role to be more like a Lear, whose age and timeworn wisdom give him pause. Whatever, Joe Biden has earned the right and should be allowed all the time to make his decision. Like the moment Wildhorn brings his Hyde to, Biden’s decision is imminent. The man who has run for the presidency three times (1984,1988, and 2008)—and lost, the happy warrior, faces a fourth and likely final opportunity. To run, or not to run. Is that the question?
While some suspect that Joe is simply playing out a string, creating suspense and priming interest about a candidacy that seems so unsurprising and inevitable. That would be a predictable option for the former VP to Barack Obama and a politician who owns a reputation among most Democrats as a Trump killer. The early odds have Biden and Bernie Sanders leading the pack of Democratic hopefuls as the primary season begins to blossom. And given the party’s penchant for choosing from its center, Biden’s chances at this stage seem better than most. In a field comprised of nearly every available Democrat, Joe has both name recognition and a political reputation that would suggest that he could both handle and defeat a phony-tough Trump with one hand tied behind his back. Biden is tough, smart, battle-hardened---and 77 years old. He is wise to the limits of his political life even as he has confronted more times than most the vagaries of life and the illusion of youth. Joe has lost a daughter and wife to a car accident and a son, Beau, to cancer. He understands that youth is ephemeral and that life is precious. He is certainly aware that the value of a life cannot be solely measured in years or “wins”. Life is all about those “moments.”
So Biden’s hesitance to declare another candidacy is understandable. While Democrats may see his reluctance as a ploy. I see it, rather, as a recognition of a looming reality.
“I can die a happy man never having been president of the United States of America. But it doesn't mean I won't run.”
-Biden
The above quote suggests that Biden has contemplated the possibilities of a fourth run at the presidency and isn’t deterred by a fear of failure. But it may also suggest another possibility, that politicos rarely consider—the realization that there is a greater good to be served. Perhaps Joe Biden, the middle-class kid from Scranton, is trying to decide whether his role at this moment in history is to be king or kingmaker.
He may be remembering a similar gambit that played out in the countdown to the 2008 Democratic Convention. Ted Kennedy, himself an oft considered candidate for the presidency, defied political wisdom while breaking ranks with old party loyalists. Instead of delivering a presumed endorsement for Hillary Clinton, instead he offered the Kennedy mantle to a younger, and untested Barack Obama. The Lion of the Senate, now weakened by age and facing his imminent death, stood for the neophyte who inspired a new generation of voters and whose story and talents won over the base of his party. Kennedy’s decision to forego past entanglements for the good of the party and the nation cemented his legacy as a leader of his party and the nation while never having served as president.
Perhaps, for Joseph Biden, the lesson of history is that greatness can be achieved while taking a pass on personal glory. By supporting one of the new and exciting candidates in 2020, Biden could guide Democrats to a victory in 2020. Be it Beto, Kamala, or Pete (my choices, feel free to add names), Biden’s passing the torch to the new generation of leaders could invigorate the nation. His wisdom and experience would be a boon to the candidate and be a final gift to his nation.
“When I look back I will recall, moment for moment
This was the moment,
The greatest moment of them all.”
Wildhorn and Bricusse, Jekyll and Hyde
As Biden decides his fate, he may be helping to decide the fate of our democracy. If he chooses to run. the party and its donors will surely back him—he deserves no less. That said, the Democratic “bench” is deep with candidates whose moments may be nigh. As he makes his decision to run --or not--his import to them, his party, and his nation remains regardless.
This may be the moment, Mr. Biden may decide.----it just may not be his.