As Democrats struggle to determine the future of President Biden’s candidacy, a line from the film “Moneyball” seems oddly relevant.
In the film, a major league baseball team’s general manager – played by Brad Pitt – is conducting a meeting with his team’s player development staff. The purpose of the meeting is to identify players that their team might want to acquire.
As Pitt listens to the scouts extoll the future performance of one of the players, he finally asks the key question: “If he’s such a good hitter, why doesn’t he hit good?”
Which is the question that I might ask people who insist that Joe Biden is the best candidate for defeating Donald Trump.
Because if President Biden is such an effective Trump-beater, why isn’t he beating Trump?
Without getting into a discussion of the reliability of polling, we have to acknowledge that Biden has been trailing Trump in virtually every poll consistently for three years.
Three years in which the twice-impeached Trump was indicted in multiple jurisdictions for attempting to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election and for mishandling classified documents; was found liable for defaming a woman who was found to be truthful in her allegations of sexual assault (the judge in that case said that Trump’s actions met the common definition of rape); was fined $350 million and barred from doing business in New York due to his organization’s history of fraud; and; was convicted of numerous felonies!
Three years in which historians and scholars generally agreed that Trump was among the worst, if not the absolute worst, president in US history.
Three years in which President Biden’s administration has produced a strong economy with record job growth and near-record low unemployment; reduced inflation; funded investments in chip manufacturing, renewable energy, and infrastructure improvements; and has presided over a near-record decline in crime.
Yet Biden still trails.
I can’t explain it, but I wish someone would.
Because if Joe Biden’s effective and successful performance in office so far cannot overcome the concerns about his age – which voters have repeatedly expressed for three years – is it reasonable to think that President Biden will somehow turn the tables on Trump in the next three months?
Is Biden likely to get younger before the election?
Are voters likely to suddenly recall the chaotic dumpster-fire quality of the Trump administration?
Joe Biden has over achieved. He was elected to get Trump out of the White House, and he did so. His effective performance has been a bonus, and the benefits to America of much of his work won’t be apparent for some years.
But President Biden is 81 years old, and he has the mannerisms and speaking style of someone even older.
He beat Trump once, and lots of people think he can do it again. I just wish he’d get on with it.
July 14, 2024
image: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-moneyball-just-great-baseball-movie-lesson-leading-monica-lane/