An End and a Beginning

October 24, 2024

By Jim Towey

Congratulations to president-elect Donald J. Trump for his against-all-odds victory last night. May our country set aside political differences and unite behind the newly elected president, and may he work for all Americans regardless of how they voted.

As I watched the election returns and Kamala Harris’ chances fade away, some networks’ coverage was downright funereal. For me, it was a déjà vu moment.

Ethel Kennedy Funeral

Three weeks earlier, my wife Mary and I attended the memorial service for Ethel Kennedy, the indomitable widow of Robert Kennedy. Mary was Ethel’s personal assistant when she was in college and Ethel attended our wedding. She was a dynamo, a mother of 11, and simply unforgettable. Mary and I had seats up front that gave us the perfect perch to observe the proceedings.

The gathering was a star-studded event. Stevie Wonder and Sting performed. All of the Democrat nobility was present, including Martin Luther King III. In the front row was the sitting president of the United States, Joe Biden, alongside former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Two rows back was John Kerry, the 2004 Democrat presidential nominee.

As I watched these leaders chat before the service began, I wondered if a political era was ending. I wondered if the event honoring Robert Kennedy’s wife wasn’t the de facto funeral of the Democrat Party as I had known it my whole life. In fact, my first memory of this party was being sent home from school the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. All Catholics were Democrats then. Throughout my life, the legacy of JFK and RFK influenced virtually every single major Democrat leader, including President Biden.

A New Era

Mary and I happened to process out of the cathedral alongside Gavin Newsom, the telegenic governor of California. Had Harris not been anointed by the party’s rulers, he very well might have been on the ballot yesterday. He watched the past generation’s leaders get into their black limos and drive away, as if clearing the way for him, Josh Shapiro and Gretchen Whitmer (governors of Pennsylvania and Michigan, respectively) and who-knows-else.

Well, this new era of Democrat leadership began at dawn this morning.

President-elect Trump won’t have a honeymoon. For all practical purposes, he is lame-duck in two years when the contest to replace him begins. Expect him to go fast and furious with the mandate commanded by a win of the popular vote and the electoral college.

Biden’s Legacy

Meanwhile, the incumbent president prepares for retirement, and he must have some regrets. He had a chance to withdraw from the race a year ago, declare victory, and allow the primary process to play out. Instead, he opted to pursue a second term. Surely he, his wife Jill, and son Hunter, climate czar and first buddy John Kerry, former domestic advisor Susan Rice (who embedded in the regulatory agencies all of the woke, DEI and transgendered activism that in part doomed Biden’s and Harris’ popularity), national security advisor and Iran-enabler Jake Sullivan, and all of the Biden inner circle who secretly wielded enormous power, must now regret the gamble they collectively took.

They thought they could campaign like they did in 2020 and conceal the president’s cognitive decline. Their sincere belief that democracy itself was at stake, and thus their desire to defeat Trump at all costs, seemed to have blinded them, much like a fish that sees the worm, not the hook. Had President Biden announced long ago that he wasn’t seeking re-election, he could have exited the Oval Office a hero. Instead, he will leave with millions blaming him for the landslide losses his party just suffered.

My Relationship with President Biden

I’ve been a Joe Biden watcher for most of my life. His close friend, a Catholic priest, introduced me to the then-young senator from Delaware long ago. I followed his career, admired his political skills, and met with him on occasion when I worked for President Bush. I hold a sentimental feeling and heartfelt pity for Joe Biden.

As I watched him that day slowly walk out of Saint Matthew’s Cathedral, fully aware that his vice president’s fate would largely define his legacy, he must have wondered how his roll of the dice would shake out. I thought of the lyrics of Kenny Roger’s song, “The Gambler”:

“You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run.”

He decided to run for re-election when he could have walked away, and then bet his presidency on his early endorsement of Kamala Harris as his successor. To paraphrase Rogers, he will now have time enough to count his chips from five decades of public service, now that the dealing’s done.

(The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Aging with Dignity and/or its Board of Directors.)