Sunday morning, a week ago, I turned on the radio during morning ablutions and these were the first words—literally, seriously, the first words—I heard on NPR's “Weekend Edition”:

...Joe Biden's age...

I snapped it off. No way. Fuck you. I was so sick of the drumbeat—from Democratic donors, politicians, friends, but mostly from the mainstream media, the supposedly objective media, who kept sticking its fat fingers into the Democratic race while letting a brat-tryant mewl away forever for the Republicans, normalizing his rants every day. I was so sick of all of this that I couldn't deal. It felt like “...but her emails” all over again. I've seen this movie and I hated it the first time. So: off. 

A few hours later, it was all moot. Pres. Joe Biden sent out the letter withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race; a short time later he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.

This is, by the way, exactly what I wanted in 2019. In August 2020, when Joe picked Kamala, I wrote about it in a post titled “It's Kamala!” and included an old tweet from 2019 laying out my wishlist. That tweet is now without formating since I left Twitter (which isn't even Twitter anymore) in 2022 but the words are still there:

Here's what Biden needs to do.
Don't ignore the age thing.
Talk up the extraordinary circumstance with Trump—how he's destroying America and its place in the world. Say that's why he's running. Then pledge to serve only one term.
Pick Kamala as VP.

— Erik Lundegaard September 13, 2019

So it's exactly what I wanted but not exactly how I wanted it. I didn't figure on Jan. 6, and I didn't figure that the Republicans would be so cowardly and opportunistic that they'd let a man who tried to end the great American experiment back into the room (to lead it), but JFC are they cowardly and opportunistic. And I didn't figure the Biden administration wouldn't put Kamala out there. I remember early in his administration, spring 2021, wondering, “Why are they burying her? She's the next stage. Let's go!” But wasn't happening. He thought he could do the second term and I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He was the only one who'd beaten Trump. All those GOP hopefuls in 2015-16 fell by the wayside, and Hillary, poor Hillary, too much arrayed against her. Too many dick pics, too much Russia, too much Comey. But Joe did it. I also figured the country was less ageist than racist/sexist. I still figure that.

Here's mainly what I figured. I figured Joe would get us past the crisis point. Trump, and American fascism, wouldn't be a threat anymore. But here we are. 

I haven't been writing much about the election. I haven't been paying the usual attention. It's been a shitty year and I don't have the emotional reserves for it. But maybe this move will help. Everyone else seems recharged, maybe I will be. We'll see.

I liked the cessation of the drumbeat. For the month prior, it was: Old is Joe, gotta go. Now there are other drumbeats, some just as stupid, but not as insistent, and with different rhythms. We'll see. 

I also felt something lift in me, some sense of responsibility for it all. Even though it's the result I wanted, back in 2019, it's not the path I wanted, so some part of me is telling the George Clooneys of the world: OK, we'll see how it goes. Good luck, assholes. Fingers crossed. But I like the energy. We'll see.

My kingdom for a serious media.