For as many personal and philosophical reasons as political, I’ve been a big fan of Joe Biden for over forty years. He is, without question, a great man. The first 100 days of his presidency saw challenges to our republic we had never imagined before, including an attempted coup d'état by his predecessor. Still, President Biden’s steady hand led us through it all. History will remember his presidency and vice presidency among America’s most successful.
No matter how great, all men are mortal.
One of my father’s oldest and closest friends was also one of the most powerful men in Mississippi. A great athlete and a great thinker, he was also a legend with the ladies. Those of us who grew up with him in our horizon would have thought him indomitable, and then one day, he contracted ALS.
I had always heard that ALS was this rare disease, so rare that it was named for a baseball player who died when my Grandfather was young. Suddenly, ALS was all around me.
Shockwaves of pity, fear, and uncertainty radiated through Mississippi's financial, political, and educational circles. What do you do when a great man faces his own mortality?
His board put together a group of men, mostly his oldest friends, to work with him on when and how he would step down. Early in the process, two of them met in my mother’s condominium to have a drink and update her on the process. They had no delusions but that their job was to kill the king—their friend.
The last time I saw this man in an official capacity, he was impeccably dressed to attend the opening of the Castlewood Branch of the company he led. He didn’t have the strength to hold his mouth closed. I waved and mouthed, “Hey.” I know he saw me. It’s impossible to miss me. I think he nodded, but it’s hard to say. A younger man took his elbow and walked him inside.
Some say they would rather have Joe Biden on life support than Donald Trump. I agree with them. I can’t imagine what has gotten into the GOP that they want this man to represent them. Actually, I can imagine it; I just don’t like talking about it.
It would be hypocritical to say I think they should pick another man to run if I’m not willing to do the same.
Joe Biden is a great man, a great Senator, a great Vice President, and a Great President, but all men are mortal. Nobody ever wants to admit that their body won’t allow them to do the job they’ve been doing brilliantly.
Sometimes, it takes a group of a man’s closest friends to deliver the bitter message and see him through the transition. A great mind, when it fails, is a painful, painful thing. It needs to be his friends that deliver the poison.
Everyone fears that if Biden Steps down, it’ll be another Humphreys, and somebody far worse than Nixon will win. I worry about that, too. Our only hope is that enough American people will see that the vitality of the republic is more important than their cult of personality. If there aren’t enough, then whether Joe Biden runs is immaterial.
Either way, rest your troubled brow, my friend. Even the greatest of men are mortal. It’s not your fault.
