Nothing New

Joe's performance on his Maui visit wasn't good, especially the visual of him falling asleep at a luncheon meeting and the transcript of his remarks at Lahaina:

Governor Josh Green, you’ve been incredible. From the day we’ve spoken on this, you’ve been way ahead of the curve. Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke; Brian Schantz [Schatz], our senator; Senator Mazie Hir- — by the way, Mazie, I told my granddaughter, whose name is Maisy as well — she said, “That’s why I like her.” (Laughter.) Anyway. But her name is Maisy as well.

And — and Jill To- — Tokuda, Representative Ed Chase, and Mayor Rick Bassen [Bissen]. Rick, when we talked on the phone, I never — you look like you played in defensive tackle for — I don’t know who, but somebody good. But, anyway, I want to thank you for your leadership in this unimaginable — during this unimaginable travedy — tragedy.

What puzzles me here is that his own staff has released the official transcript verbatim, with every mispronunciation, misspeak, gaffe, and stumble clearly recorded, with not even the slightest attempt to clean things up. It's pretty clear that he isn't up to speed on the names of either US senator from Hawaii; he gets Sen Schatz's name wrong, and he's also covering for not quite knowing Sen Hirono's last name.

The impression I have is that his staff gave him the usual briefing notes that we sometimes get to see -- YOU enter from left, go to microphone, YOU greet Sen Hirono . . . YOU turn and leave the stage at right. . ." of which he maybe follows the highlights at best, but one thing he clearly didn't do in this case was study the photos and learn the names of the people he was supposed to recognize in his remarks. Why should he? It's only courteous, and the most powerful man in the world doesn't need to be courteous.

He's like a recalcitrant five-year-old who's being dragged to a big family event in a jacket and tie, something he absolutely doesn't want to do, and he's displaying passive resistance to the whole program. The five-year-old resents his parents for making him do it, and he consistently says the wrong thing, gets mixed up while shaking hands with Uncle Ted, turns in the wrong direction, and falls asleep. Joe has precisely the same routine.

In fact, Joe resents his handlers, even though they're the ones who've gotten him where he is (he likely doesn't see it that way). Every indication is that he never wanted to go to Maui, even for half a day, and he probably resisted the advice behind the scenes. It sounds like a few people got to Dr Jill, and she prevalied on him to do it. The problem is that the message was clear.

President Biden was greeted with middle fingers, chants of protest, and signs that said “No Comment” Monday as he arrived in Maui to tour wildfire damage after repeatedly declining to comment last week on the tragedy that killed at least 114 people.

. . . As he drove toward downtown Lahaina, Biden passed signs that said “No Comment,” “Really $7?,” “Action Speaks Louder Than Words”, and “FJB,” as well as at least two flags promoting the 2024 candidacy of former President Donald Trump.

Again, I don't think this is a sign of mental decline. It's a sign of a basic sense of entitlement, a little bit like Lyndon Johnson saying, "I'm the only president you've got." Ed Morrissey at Hot Air had an uncharacteristic flash of insight into the real situation:

{I]f Biden retires and the party doesn’t nominate Harris, all of the bad blood over the diversity promises of 2020 will explode. That will be especially true if the party nominates Gavin Newsom instead, who notably angered the black and female activists in the party by appointing Alex Padilla to fill out the rest of Harris’ term in the Senate rather than another black woman. This won’t be a Kennedy-Carter contest but an explosion of identity-politics grudges and fury, much more 1968 than 1980.

. . . That is why Democrats will prop up Biden for as long as it takes, even if they have to do a Weekend At Bernie’s campaign in 2024.

He's the last old white guy who isn't Bernie Sanders, and he's the last one standing who can maintain the pretense that the New Deal coalition survives. After Biden, the greens, radical feminists, reparations hustlers, homeless-cum-urban criminals, and sexual deviants will fight each other for supremacy with little chance of an electoral majority in a general election.

Whether anyone else wants a Weekend at Bernie's campaign in 2024, that's what Biden prefers. Beyond that, with Biden's weakness as a candidate -- at this point, he can no longer hold a regular press conference due to rhe overhanging questions about Hunter -- it's the only possible option to keep him on vacation or some basement equivalent for the next 14 months. Joe understands this better than anyone.

This is the real Joe we'll be seeing from now on. If Dr Jill and his handlers try to make him do more, it'll just be worse, and Joe is making sure they understand it.