The COVID-19 virus helped sweep President Joe Biden into office and the COVID-19 virus helped sweep him out.
In the 2020 race, then-President Donald Trump flagrantly mishandled the pandemic, which resulted in the deaths of more than a million Americans. Trump’s incompetence combined with a slimmed-down campaign schedule boosted Biden’s chances in their first matchup. The race was close, and a Pew poll that showed Americans overwhelmingly trusted Biden more than Trump to handle the pandemic may have swung the swing states.
Less than a week ago, COVID struck again. This time it was personal. A July 17 statement from the White House announced that Biden had tested positive. “He is vaccinated and boosted and he is experiencing mild symptoms,” the statement continued. “The White House will provide regular updates on the President’s status as he continues to carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation.”
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You can almost hear the reverb on the word “isolation-n-n-n-n.”
The illness hit less than a month after the CNN presidential debate where Biden fumbled and mumbled his way through. After the poor showing, Biden’s team announced that the president was feeling sick. Despite that, Biden kept to a rigorous schedule knowing that his best move to win over naysayers was by showing unflagging strength and stamina.
He gave a great speech at a rally in North Carolina. He gave an hour-long press conference on NATO. He sat down with Lester Holt at NBC, Ed Gordon at BET, and George Stephanopoulos at ABC. When Stephanopoulos asked if he might step down from the ticket, Biden responded, “If the Lord Almighty comes down and tells me that, I might do that.”
But when the hammer fell on Biden’s candidacy, it was not delivered by the Lord Almighty, but by a teeny corona-shaped virus. This time he was not bouncing back quickly. Biden’s already raspy voice grew raspier. “I talked to him this morning,” said campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon on July 19. “He sounds like shit because he’s not feeling that well.”
Now Biden is stuck in Delaware, and anyone who’s had a case of COVID knows how draggy and achy it can make you feel—even at 20 years old, let alone 81.
On top of that, unlike in 2020, Biden has the United States to run. He led with this point in the letter he wrote announcing his decision Sunday. The letter began by listing several accomplishments of his administration, including a strong economy, lower prescription drug costs, expanded affordable health care, support for veterans, passing a gun safety law, passing climate legislation, and naming Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.
Biden’s letter also noted, “Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We've protected and preserved our Democracy.”
Biden’s “pandemic of one” was probably the final straw in his decision to make way for another Democrat to run in his stead. He must be terribly disappointed that he will not “finish the job” himself. But as the Lord Almighty might say: COVID giveth and COVID taketh away.
