By Jeffrey A. Rendall
Dr. Jill’s latest attempt at retro legacy-building leaves one wondering, why is she doing it?
One sure way to tell whether Democrats are happy and optimistic about the future is to appraise their attitude towards the recent past. As most people know, Democrats have been on a high recently as news reports regarding the Iran War and gas prices and the Trump administration’s poll ratings have consistently gone against Republicans.
But Democrats aren’t acting like they’re enthused. In fact, liberal party members are clearly concerned about the upcoming presidential primary process and the lack of strong candidates to choose from among the possible left-thinking contenders to succeed President Donald Trump.
Then there are those Democrats who refuse to recover from the horrible (for them) 2024 election. They can’t let go. They just can’t let go. Why?
In an article titled, “Jill Biden: Joe Biden ‘was slowing down’ during presidency”, Susan Ferrechio reported at The Washington Times last week:
“Former first lady Jill Biden said former President Joseph R. Biden was showing signs of ‘getting older’ before dropping his bid for a second presidential term. But Mrs. Biden, who has given several interviews to promote her new memoir, ‘View from the East Wing,’ also insisted that she did not see any indications her husband was suffering from cognitive decline, or, as others have reported, that he wasn’t acting like his usual self.
“’I don’t think that’s true,’ Mrs. Biden said in the interview with CBS News correspondent Rita Braver released [a week ago] Sunday. ‘He was the same, the essence of the same Joe Biden. But yeah, he was slowing down. He was getting older.’
“Mrs. Biden described her husband’s status as ‘natural aging,’ in ‘a very intense job,’ that ‘ages you, quickly.’”
Hmmm. This is clearly a “now you tell us”, kind of disclosure. Dr. Jill’s current words differ markedly from the narrative the White House advanced during Joe’s one (and only) term as well as the 2024 Democrat primaries, where anyone who even hinted that Biden’s age was an issue was quickly shouted down as being mistaken and maybe even… unsympathetic.
Ferrechio’s article additionally reported how Dr. Jill feared her husband “was having a stroke” during the now-infamous (to Democrats) June debate that effectively ended the Delaware dolt’s political career.
That’s serious business, isn’t it?
Beyond the substance-less gossip, every time a “fresh” blurb about the Bidens surfaces, I wonder what could possibly be the Democrat power family’s motive for prolonging their time in the public eye? Aren’t senile Joe n’ Dr. Jill simply content to sit beneath that beach umbrella, count their millions derived from son Hunter’s sleazy business (and art) dealings and be content to follow the sun as it slips beneath the horizon?
Apparently not in their example. George W. Bush made it obvious when he left office that he didn’t want anything further to do with the rat race of American politics and now, from reports, passes his retirement hours painting and doing chores around the family ranch in Texas. Meanwhile, Barack Obama keeps his nose firmly planted in the rigmarole of day-to-day politicking, but I think it has more to do with his ongoing drive to get Democrats elected anywhere and everywhere than it does working to bolster his stature in future history texts.
Big Bubba Bill Clinton pops up from time-to-time, but wife Crooked Hillary is the one who seems obsessed with immortalizing what’s left of her stardom and fan worship, not her legal marriage partner’s.
But for senile Joe – and Jill – they’re still slogging through the book promo and talk show circuit in a purely naked attempt to resurrect and recondition his/their presidential legacy. Everyone who’s paid attention to the period of American governance after Donald Trump left the White House knows the country was ground into the dirt during Biden’s time, and the former chief’s misfeasance was so apparent that even Democrats worked to ditch him two years ago.
True, senile Joe’s end-of-June debate (2024) with Trump coaxed his naysayers off the sidelines, but Democrats had to be thinking that the broken-down old geezer would act as a drag on the entire party if they sat passively by and allowed him to lie and gaffe his way to presenting the Democrats’ case in the fall campaign.
Therefore, Joe’s abysmal showing in the presidential forum freed them from the bounds of perfunctory loyalty and forced their hand regarding his visibly deteriorating state.
And by “them”, I’m talking about Barack and Michelle Obama and Nancy Pelosi, the only remaining non-Bidens who maintained credibility with the Democrat establishment.
Obama’s and Pelosi’s duplicity and probable treachery hasn’t been forgotten in the Biden sphere. The half-century-in-Washington political family maintains its grudge against the leaders of the party Coup d’état for not only compelling the clan to leave their vaunted perch as preeminent Democrat political family, but also for besmirching the family name for the rest of history.
Or at least immediate history. And the next few years are critical to Joe n’ Jill for a multitude of reasons, and the pretexts are not all actuarial.
It’s now or never for the Bidens to fill Americans with enough residual fondness for senile Joe to listen to their overtures and remake their case, the one that should’ve been presented more effectively two years ago. Donald Trump’s struggles of late also provided an opening for a “miss me yet?” type campaign to try and reconfigure – albeit retroactively – Biden’s time as president.
So, Jill Biden has emerged, again, to wage another attempt to persuade people to forget about how awful her husband’s policies were, how badly he’d broken the immigration system and how weak and pathetic and toothless he’d made the United States appear internationally.
Senile Joe Biden’s historically bad policy agenda paved the way for Trump to mount his astonishing return to politics. Trump did so despite having been impeached twice and with half the country still steamed and fuming over the aftermath of the 2020 election and the J6 Capitol riot. We’re not even referring to Joe’s deteriorating cognitive ability here.
I can just see it now… Jill: “Joe, Joe, can you hear me? I was just thinking we should try again to repair your presidential legacy. It’s not too late for a presidential library, is it? Any building would look better than the ugly eyesore the Obamas are about to open in Chicago.”
It’s as plain as the nose on your face – the Bidens are desperately longing to manipulate senile Joe’s legacy.
The second reason the Bidens have kept the public relations campaign going is because they hate Kamala Harris.
Hate is a strong word, but the Bidens seriously despise Kamala Harris. The former vice president has devoted her post-loss spin narrative to partially, if not mostly, blaming her boss for a lack of support during her moment in the spotlight. In so doing, cackling Kamala conveniently bypassed the fact she would never have been the nominee without senile Joe’s assistance and assent.
Since Kamala needs a scapegoat, her easiest path to foster a plausible explanation for why she failed two years ago has everything to do with faulting Joe Biden for his passive behavior in the campaign. It’s small, petty, disloyal and infuriating, but Harris understands she has to piece together something semi-believable to preserve her own future political viability.
Some commentators have surmised that the Bidens loathe Kamala so intensely that they secretly cheered for Trump to beat her. I wouldn’t go that far, but the notion isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Therefore, Dr. Jill’s “reputation repair tour” is partially powered by the Bidens’ wounded feelings towards Kamala. If revenge is the oldest motivation known to mankind, then getting back at the replacement Democrat nominee for her transgressions before and after the 2024 election helps explain everything in Biden-land.
Aside from the obvious questions, one wonders if the Biden family’s ceaseless legacy healing project is beneficial or harmful to the overall Democrat mission – to defeat Trump. Here’s thinking any mention of the Bidens in Democrat circles draws cringeworthy glances. Simply put, Biden isn’t held in the same esteem as other recent Democrat presidents have enjoyed.
Biden lost, even if it was his supposedly hand-picked surrogate/replacement who did the capitulating.
Whether they like it or not, the Biden name is linked to losing, scandals, hiding his physical condition and horrible personnel and policy decisions. “Dr.” Jill Biden can try and cover the scars all she wishes, but there’s no way Americans will fondly remember senile Joe Biden’s time as president.
Jeff Rendall is editor and publisher of GolfintheUSA.com and has written about golf and politics for over a quarter of a century. A non-practicing attorney from California, he moved to the east coast three decades ago to pursue and combine his interests in all things American history and culture. Jeff has worked as an intern on Capitol Hill and in various capacities in grassroots organizing and conservative organizations and publications, including a nearly two-decade stint at ConservativeHQ.com. Column republishing or other inquiries: Rendall@msn.com .