President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris. Image: Joe Biden Facebook
President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris. Image: Joe Biden Facebook
Joe Biden didn’t hug a flag or hold a Bible in some pathetic, pandering photo-op. He didn’t stand in front of a church or crassly parade the uniform of a dead firefighter on stage. He simply modeled both his faith and his patriotism.
Republished with permission from John Pavlovitz
After three weeks of incessant media fixation and social media handwringing, President Biden announced that he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential campaign.
The beautiful irony of this act, is that by removing himself from contention for the November election, Biden reminds us once again why he was and is so deserving of leading America, and why he is the human being and leader that Donald Trump could never be.
Joe Biden did something the Republican nominee forever preaches but has never once practiced in his life or his political tenure: he actually put America first.
As he has done for all of his 81 years, President Biden has sacrificed his ego on the altar of the greater good and chose others over himself. He has modeled both his morality and his patriotism, and upon his exit from the race he has secured a legacy that history will record; one that Trump and his relentless, sweaty narcissism will always remain in the shadow of.
While Felon Don has destroyed an entire political party and shamelessly grifted his way through the last eight years, even hijacking our nation’s highest court just to help him avoid legal accountability for his high crimes against this nation—Joe Biden did what Joe Biden always does: what he believed was best for America.
Whether the President made this decision solely based on his honest assessment of his physical capabilities, or whether he acquiesced in the face of the pressures of a largely fabricated media firestorm, the end result is still the same: he did something Trump lacks the capacity or humanity to do, by making the moment about someone other than himself.
This is a teachable moment for this nation: for progressives, moderates, and conservative voters not fully indoctrinated into MAGA cultism.
It’s a lesson for seniors, Boomers, Gen Xers, Millenials, and Gen Zers.
It’s instructive for Blue voters, Red voters, Independents, and undecideds.
Character isn’t about who you profess to be.
It isn’t tag lines and catch phrases and slogans you adorn yourself with.
It’s isn’t t-shirts and bumper stickers and red hat propaganda you traffic in.
It isn’t in what you claim to value or believe.
You and I are the sum total of our choices, and in departing a campaign that he deserved to finish and enter a second term, Joe Biden made a choice that was in keeping with who the man has always been.
He made the decision to enter the race in 2020 because he understood the urgency of the moment, saw the disastrous implications of a second Trump term, and felt he could be a barrier between fascism and America—and he was and has been. That alone should earn the eternal gratitude of decent Americans.
His presidency has been an astounding success, especially considering that he began in the shadow of insurrection, inside the lingering tragedy of COVID, and opposite the most traitorous and sociopathic Republican congress in our history (themselves the product of Trump’s ego and self-centeredness).
And now Joe Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to continue the work they have done together and I hope this nation will embrace her and help us to further course-correct from the greatest collective mistake America has ever made in 2016. I hope the majority reflects on his character and respond in kind.
But in this moment, it’s important to pause and acknowledge that President Biden has once again reminded us that he was both the leader we needed and yet perhaps better than the one we deserved.
Joe Biden didn’t hug a flag or hold a Bible in some pathetic, pandering photo-op. He didn’t stand in front of a church or crassly parade the uniform of a dead firefighter on stage.
He simply modeled both his faith and his patriotism, he set down himself and he actually put America first.
This nation should be forever grateful.
John Pavlovitz is a writer, pastor, and activist from Wake Forest, North Carolina. A 25-year veteran in the trenches of local church ministry, John is committed to equality, diversity, and justice—both inside and outside faith communities. When not actively working for a more compassionate planet, John enjoys spending time with his family, exercising, cooking, and having time in nature. He is the author of A Bigger Table, Hope and Other Superpowers, Low, and Stuff That Needs to Be Said.
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