“Some people are in politics because they’re in love with policy, but they’re not necessarily in love with humans.”
—Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal
Last night around midnight, I was on YouTube and came across a Frontline episode about Joe Biden.
I saw it was two hours long and thought I would watch a bit and then finish it some other time.
I ended up watching the whole thing.
It was great. Well, I love me some Frontline.
It woke me up so I got up and played Strat-O-Matic Baseball on my laptop, and finally fell asleep around 4:30.
A few things that stood out – or weren’t in the show at all but made me go on some doomscrolling tangents:
• Not in show: Biden had an aneurysm in his 40s and was given a small chance to survive. Was not in the show so I had to go digging. Wild!!! I heard about it only very recently.
• I think Afghanistan – the withdrawal – was the beginning of Biden’s decline. Trump negotiated a deal that Biden didn’t have to accept.
According to author Chris Whipple, “Biden was hellbent on withdrawing.” And he was in charge and it didn’t go well. Not that it would have gone well under anyone.
It was a fire waiting to be lit. The footage of fathers saying Joe only talked about Beau, which his people said he thought was comforting, was not good. Biden meant well. It’s who he is. But it was a low point.
• Early as veep, Obama made Joe the punchline or object of jokes. Biden asked him to stop and he did. But I have read about tension between the Obama camp and the Biden camp. Obama’s people supposedly looked down on Joe or at least it was perceived that way.
The further away we get from the Obama years, the more some of the shine comes off.
Part of Obama’s success was his personality. He’s cool, detached, seems willing to move on with or without people who supported him. He, like they all do, has a huge ego. I believe he was behind Joe being pushed out. Which probably had to happen. But it’s complicated with Obama.
• In 2019, the Trump campaign sold “Where’s Hunter?” t‑shirts. It was informative to see the debate where Bones Spurs mocked Hunter’s struggles. To his father.
That’s Trump in a nutshell. Cruel personal attacks.
• Biden’s decision to step down means he is – in my mind – up there with Jimmy Carter as the best person to have been US President in my lifetime.
They are the first two by far I would want around my loved ones. Obama or Ford are distant bronze medal winners.
• “I know Willie Brown very well,” Mr. Trump said about the alleged incident. “In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him.” It’d be a shame if people posted this without context, right?
• I don’t appreciate The Red Hot Chili Peppers like I should. I don’t plan to do anything to correct this. But I acknowledge it.
• If you could invent on demand cocaine, would that be insta gram?
I’ll see myself out.
—larry peters
Flommist Larry Peters is a Portland-based musician, writer, salesman, and overall troublemaker with twenty years of advertising, newspapers and publications, decades of playing and performing music, and a lifelong affliction of thinking he has something interesting to say. Copyright © 2024 Larry Peters. Top image: Ken Adam.
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