Bigger Than Biden/Kanene Holder

Reading Time 3 mins

July 24, 2024*

“If the Democrats were indeed about ‘democracy,’
they would have been honest, proactive, and transparent.”

This is not about Biden. This is about the truth, common sense, fear, loyalty, and the future of America, but not for the reasons you think. 

“Democracy is under threat”. 

This is Biden forcing Democrats to do a public loyalty test to double down on why he should stay, against all common sense, fear, and logic. This is the Democrats holding the news cycle hostage instead of proactively managing the campaign and the future of the party. 

Biden is now just a daily breaking news story. Is he cognitively sound? Is he stepping down? Who wants him to stay? Who wants him to go? This scenario was not the 2024 election season I wanted. Our winter coats are in storage; most are unprepared for the stone-cold truth. 

The truth is Trump would be an ongoing breaking news story. Waking up to horrors and embarrassments and kept up at night unable to sleep. However, Biden is now on a similar, if not quite as terrifying, news cycle and crisis but unnecessarily. People want to put in the dishwashing liquid, close the door, and open up to clean, shining dishes. We don’t want to keep running back to check. Is the water in full force? Will there be residue? Will the dishes still have food particles stuck? Biden is like a broken dishwasher, but this is not the time for patience, understanding, and nostalgia about how long we have had it and reticence to replace it. No. We want to set it and forget it; instead, we are afraid that Biden is forgetting. 

But even more disturbing is how we report on and choose a president. What are we voting for? A president is not a mythical creator. In America, “I want to be president” is drilled into our heads from kindergarten. The President of the United States is a larger-than-life, almost otherworldly superposition, part man, part unique. A superhero that can rescue with a riveting speech or by sending the most powerful weapons on earth. We valorize the president as an extension of American exceptionalism. The president is the most exceptional human on earth, a leader of the most prominent superpower; hence, our president is a superhuman. 

So perhaps the president’s extraordinary heft has united us in a cognitive dissonance that has collapsed time, space, and common sense. If we genuinely are thinking long-term, then Biden is not the one. I don’t see how people are falling for the notion of “look—he made a great speech” or “look, he did an entire interview,” as if a 40-minute interview indicates competence for a four-year term.  

If Biden were the nominee, we would meet with the closest to a Trump 24/7 panic news cycle we have seen in modern times. I don’t want that. Why have presidential elections become the most incredible show on earth? At some point, the notion of an action or blockbuster movie, the suspense, the villain, and the unsuspecting victims unprepared for a massacre should not apply to the presidency and how the media covers it. But this is what Americans are groomed for.

We are groomed for drama, danger, and intrigue. So this is a fundamental problem with our ‘democracy’ that has nothing to do with Trump but is part of the reason how and why we got here. Americans want big, bold, loud, strong men, contrary to our supposed dignity and despising dictators. We think we do it bigger and better than anyone else. Hence, we can’t look in the mirror and critique our process or procedure. 

The other big issue is that we can’t trust the Democrats. They have been and continue to lie to us. Our perceptions have been skewed, and the media is having a field day. If the Democrats were indeed about ‘democracy,’ they would have been honest, proactive, and transparent. Despite the chaos, they would have prepared the American people for alternatives, and we would not be in this breaking news cycle we face today. 

*This article was written on July 6, before President Biden endorsed Kamala Harris.