Statesmanship Rears Its Fine Head

For all of the talk of statesmanship, how often do we get to see it? It can be an ethereal thing, barely noticeable, except in retrospect. Then, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, just the other day, shows us what it looks like in real-time. It is a breath of fresh air. 

Nancy announced that she will not seek the leadership position in the upcoming Democratic caucus. She will, however, serve out her elected term as representative for the people of San Francisco, and the nation at large. This is more than Nancy stepping aside for a new generation of Democrats in the House. This is Nancy showing the 80-year-old president, Joe Biden, that it is okay to graciously stand down. 

Too much of our politics is governed by tradition, often leaving us with stale leadership - entitled men and women whose crusty grip on power becomes fixed, and unassailable. Time to concede to reason.  

"Feeble", in itself, means "far past one's prime." That is Joe Biden. For Joe, there is no "eighty is the new sixty." He looks it; he carries himself like the quintessential 80-year-old. He becomes a caricature of "befuddled" by the day.  

It is not Nancy's place to tell Joe when to retire, but there is nowhere that says she can't show him. By removing herself from leadership contention, she, in essence, appears to gently coax Joe away from the disaster of a divisive primary challenge to a second Biden term. The consensus among voters is they hope he does not run again. They like Joe. They do not like him four-more-years worth. Joe confuses their kindly affection and touts the great job he is doing, and how fit he feels. Sounds delusional; you decide. 

Then, let us ask ourselves this: Given a multi-trillion dollar business, (which is what the U.S. is), who among us would hire an 82-year-old to run it?