Hamilton Journal News

Our choice: Aging man with bad recall or evil intentions

- Mary Sanchez is a syndicated columnist with Tribune Content Agency.

Your choices, America, are as follows: Either you vote for “a sympatheti­c, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” (words of the recent special counsel report on Biden). Or you can take what’s behind door No. 2 : an aging and most certainly not well-meaning man with little grasp on truth. Forgetful vs. dangerous. Yes, the special counsel in President Joe Biden’s mishandled document’s case, Robert K. Hur, said the quiet part out loud. The president is like a forgetful grandpa. But make no mistake, he’s an 81-year-old good guy.

Biden is livid over the special counsel report.

And it’s understand­able. His detractors were just given a delicious roadmap of his political vulnerabil­ities, except this isn’t new.

He’s long revealed this side of himself. His supporters are equally kind and protective of him, of the presidency, to make hay over it. Now Biden is on high alert to sound like he’s got all his marbles.

Unfortunat­ely, he’s already slipped up in media interviews, confusing Egypt’s president with Mexico’s. Those gaffes are a sad state of affairs for Biden, perhaps a flub of nerves, but not the kind of mayhem that former President Donald Trump promises if reelected. And it’s pretty clear, Trump will be the GOP nominee.

Hur’s findings included an assessment of Biden’s demeanor when questioned during the investigat­ion into his mishandlin­g of classified documents. They wound up in Biden’s garage. Stunningph­otos reveal the president’s carelessne­ss.

The assessment of Biden’s acuity came as part of the report’s explanatio­n for why no charges will be filed. The prosecutor argued that a jury would most likely see Biden as an elderly man who is a bit forgetful.

So charges against Biden in the documents case probably wouldn’t stick. It would have been necessary to determine beyond a reasonable doubt he willfully mishandled the documents.

The report describes Biden as showing “limited precision and recall” – putting into words what many people feel about him.

Democrats, many lifelong ones, have deep reservatio­ns about the 2024 candidacy of the current president. If victorious, he’d be 86 at the end of his second term. Trump is also up there – he’s 77.

Biden’s gaffes, some cringewort­hy, are legendary and they’re not only the subject of much chatter by Republican­s and rightwing cable news hosts. In his younger years, they were excused as somewhat charming.

His recent gaffes are being chalked up to age decline, but it’s difficult to know what might be blamed on that or the flubs that he’s displayed for quite some time.

Neverthele­ss, these two men will be our choices come November. Both political parties are to blame for this dismal situation. How these two are the “best” candidates is a stunning rebuke of everything the democratic system can offer. We should put forth our best and brightest, those with the highest intellect, experience, insight and yes, morality, befitting the office of president.

To redesign a roadmap that could bring us better candidates will be work for the post-election period.

We still must await the outcomes of Trump’s various criminal cases, his own case involving mishandled classified documents and 8 the insurrecti­on of Jan. 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol.

Again, the nation has always known Biden to be a bit bumbling, a bit forgetful. He’s also never been a blustery strongman. It’s one reason his pushback on the Hur report came off awkwardly.

Rather, it is Biden’s humanity that’s always led, from his early days as a senator navigating Congress to the devastatin­g loss of his wife and daughter in a car accident. We witnessed his faith and devotion to his second wife, as well as his grief over losing his son Beau.

We need more examples of this kind of good in Americans, not the craven greed, shocking sexism and racism that Trump has exhibited his whole life.

If reelected, Biden will again surround himself with a qualified, strong cabinet. Trump will again choose lap dogs.

The choices on the 2024 presidenti­al ballot are not great, but they are clear.

One man, Biden, is worthy of the office. The other most certainly is not.

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Mary Sanchez

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