Why President Biden's patriotism echoes Washington and JFK, not LBJ or Nixon

Good morning from coastal Maine, where I'm still mulling over yesterday's historic decision by the 46th President of the United States, Joseph Robinette Biden, to change his mind and not seek re-election.

Alex Howard here, with another civic text. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed so far, particularly new members! If you can upgrade to a paid membership, I'd welcome your support.

If you're wondering why you didn't receive a civic text alerting you to the news, the honest truth is that I was out on a Sunday hike in an area of Acadia with no cell service with my daughter when the President tweeted his letter and then endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.

It's safe to saw we are living through extraordinary times. In just last three weeks, two candidates adhering to to a democratic norm and participate in a presidential debate gave Americans more of the information we needed to be self-governing. One of those candidates survived an assassination attempt, received the nomination of one of our major political parties for the third time, and announced a running mate. The other was sidelined by COVID-19, again, and then announced he would not seek the nomination, after all.

And now we are making sense of an upended campaign, with escalating uncertainty and risk associated with the outcome. While Harris has not locked the nomination up, she's close to becoming the presumptive nominee based upon the slew of endorsements she's now received from Members of Congress and Democratic governors – particularly the men and women most likely to challenge her for the delegates Biden will release. As of this morning, it looks more likely that Harris will win a virtual vote instead of competing in an open convention in August – but no one knows what will happen yet. Buckle up.

Republicans are now openly calling for the President to resign, including the Speaker of the House, but health and policy experts consulted by the Washington Post disagree, noting how the rigors of campaigning differ from the requirements of governing.

Before Biden dropped out, the President's historic debate debacle meant he had to demonstrate his continued fitness to serve through more open governance, not just to campaign for re-election.

In my view, Biden has done so over the past month, demonstrating deep knowledge of foreign policy and responding to the assassination attempt in a notable address to the nation – but in the process continued to show how the rigors of that office and age have diminished his capacity to communicate in unscripted moments.

While staying in the presidential race spoke of a cloistered circle of advisors and suggested arrogance from a proud man who has repeatedly proven his naysayers wrong over a half century of public service, withdrawal showed his patriotism and evident belief that our union will be strong enough to endure his absence.

In his letter withdrawing from contention, President Biden demonstrated to our fellow Americans and the world that he has the grace and wisdom to put his party and our union over his own interests, writing that "while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”

In relinquishing power this way, Biden is trusting that the next generation of leaders can protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all of its enemies, both foreign and domestic. Unlike a French king or modern autocrat, he is not the state, only its steward for a time.

That's why when I saw the news on Sunday, I didn't just think of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the most recent president not to seek another term in office, during the Vietnam War in the 1960s – or of Richard Milhous Nixon, who resigned in disgrace in his second term, facing impeachment and removal after Watergate.

Instead, I thought of President George Washington, who chose not to seek a third term in an era when his contemporaries would have elected the father of our nation again, & again – perhaps until he'd passed away in office like the European kings whose tyranny the United States has thrown off do.

I've read Washington's farewell message to his fellow Americans many times this past decade, for different reasons.

In the introduction, Washington wrote that "in withdrawing the tender of service which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest; no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness; but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both."

Later, Washington warned us of the dangers of partisanship and parties, which are embodied themselves in our current moment in the form of a corrupt demagogue seeking to divide his fellow Americans "on the ruins of Public Liberty.

While Biden's letter was not a farewell nor a warning, it did also read as a valedictory, listing the historic achievements of an administration across a vast, sprawling union of states and cities. (If you have shared my concern about the impacts of being "left behind" by automation and outsourcing on communities has been on communities across the United States, then reports of an economic renaissance and a remarkable comeback in those counties as a result of the bipartisan infrastructure law, CHIPS Act, and Inflation Reduction Act that Biden worked with Congress to enact was some of the most encouraging news in some time.)

Biden's words and actions also brought to mind the words another Democratic president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, whose inaugural address gave us a phrase for the ages decades ago:

“Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.”

It now falls to a new generation to ensure that this union, borne anew as a full democracy in 1965 after the assassination of JFK, will long endure.

As President, Joe Biden has brought us out of a historic pandemic, governed a fractured polity in the aftermath from a failed auto coup and attempted putsch, finally withdrew us from a forever war in Afghanistan, and rallied the world's democracies to fight against Russian aggression in Europe.

When the histories of this era in American democracy are written, I expect the failure of the Democratic Party to enact protections for voting rights, anti-corruption laws and democracy reforms in 2009 and 2021 will loom large – but so too will this President's patriotism and basic decency.

As always, if you have questions, tips, thoughts, concerns, or other feedback, you can find me at alex@governing.digital. May you and yours have a peaceful, productive Monday.