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“I’m not going anywhere.”
This week, a defiant Joe Biden called into “Morning Joe” to rebuke members of his own party who are urging him to drop out of the presidential race. The early morning phone interview was as shaky as his televised sit-down with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos—and just as rambling as his debate performance before that.
In President Biden’s slow-motion surrender to senility, the nation is watching a tragedy unfold in real time. The once jolly and relatable everyman from Scranton risks becoming the mad king of the West Wing—an out-of-touch politician unable to accept reality and his own mortality.
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Sadly, Biden’s televised deterioration is a movie the country has seen before: first in Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and most recently in Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Both Ginsburg and Feinstein tore down gender barriers to become luminaries in the Democratic Party. Both earned endearing nicknames—”RBG” and “Di-Fi”—that became their calling cards in Washington. Both overcame insurmountable odds to dominate their respective fields and expand civil liberties for all Americans. And both stayed far too long in office, harming their reputations and the progressive cause.
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By clinging to power well past his prime, Biden appears to be going the way of Ginsburg and Feinstein. His incapacity to do the job is becoming evident to the American public. His mental faculties are slipping, and he struggles to string a coherent sentence together in live press conferences. But either out of deference or self-interest, Biden’s staff refuses to acknowledge the President’s obvious decline.
Democrats know how this movie ends. Yet they seem incapable of yelling “Cut!” Assuming Biden is still the director of his own production, he will have to do that himself.
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The silver lining: Biden still has time. And he can craft the perfect ending for his career by taking a cue from his longtime friend, the late Republican Senator Orrin G. Hatch.
Hatch was a Washington workhorse. At the time of his retirement, he had passed more bills into law (750) than anyone alive. But one quality set him apart from even the most prolific lawmakers: knowing when to call it quits.
Joe Biden embodies the Democratic Party’s age problem. But he is also the only person who can fix it.
Indeed, the last year of Hatch’s career is a case study in retiring with dignity—one that Biden and other members of America’s leadership class could learn from.
Before Hatch announced that he would be stepping down in 2018, Republican leaders spared no effort to convince him to run again. Leading this campaign was the most powerful man in the world—President Donald Trump.
Hatch and Trump had a tight-knit relationship made even tighter by the work they had done together to pass comprehensive tax reform. As early as January 2017, Trump began privately encouraging Hatch to seek another term, emphasizing what they could accomplish with a few more years together.
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The White House lobbying campaign culminated at the end of the year in Trump’s first—and only—presidential visit to Salt Lake City, where he signed an executive order that handed Hatch a massive victory on federal lands reform. Trump capped off the signing ceremony by handing Hatch the presidential pen, calling him “a true fighter,” and expressing his desire that the Senator would continue to serve Utah and the country “for a very long time to come.”
Donald Trump had summoned the collective might of the GOP to persuade Hatch to run again. But it was all for naught.
Just a month later, Hatch stunned the political world when he announced he would be retiring at the end of his term.
Hatch’s decision baffled many onlookers: he had reached peak performance as a legislator and enjoyed a direct line to the President of the United States. Why leave now?
As his speechwriter of many years, I can share insights into Hatch’s thinking, as well as lessons leaders can draw from his example.
From boxing in his youth, Hatch had learned the importance of going out with a strong performance—and with your head still on your shoulders.
Hatch had a penchant for making unlikely friends. And perhaps his most unlikely friend was the greatest fighter in history, Muhammad Ali. The Muslim and the Mormon had such a close bond that Hatch was even asked to deliver a eulogy at Ali’s funeral.
Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali stands over Sonny Liston during their second bout in 1965 and taunts him to get up during their title fight. Ali knocked Liston out in one minute in the first round during their bout at the Central Maine Youth Center in Lewiston, Maine. (Getty Images)
As a former boxer himself, Hatch was in awe of Ali’s athleticism. But he was also keenly aware of the damage fighting can inflict on the human body, having witnessed firsthand Ali’s rapid physical and mental decline in his old age. Hatch often likened the pugilism of politics to fighting in the ring. And he was just as wary of the physical and spiritual toll of partisan combat.
It’s telling, then, that Hatch explained his decision to retire in boxing terms: “I was an amateur boxer in my youth, and I brought that fighting spirit with me to Washington. But every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves. And for me, that time is soon approaching.”
Hatch had the foresight to leave the political arena with his physical and cognitive health intact, rather than risk losing them by fighting in extra rounds. This is the risk Ginsburg and Feinstein took—and the risk Biden appears to be taking today. It doesn’t appear to be a well-calculated one.
Hatch’s decision to retire was also motivated by a desire to cultivate fresh talent and pass on the lessons of statesmanship to younger Americans. He wanted to dedicate the rest of his able years to building up the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, a now-thriving think tank that seeks to “restore the public discourse and empower the next generation of civic leaders.”
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Before devoting himself to building his think tank, however, Hatch needed to ensure his Senate seat would be in good hands. That’s why, almost a year before formally announcing his retirement, he sent a memo to Mitt Romney encouraging him to run for his seat in the event Hatch would step down. Senator Romney did exactly that. And he honored Hatch’s legacy recently by stating that he too would soon retire to make way “for a new generation of leaders.”
The president—and his party—would benefit from following Senator Hatch’s example by passing the reins of leadership to the next generation.
Without this necessary course correction, the Democratic Party will continue to hemorrhage young voters, thus risking its reputation as “the party of the youth vote.” Consider that Biden had a 20-point lead over Trump in the last election among voters 18-29 years old. Today, the two candidates are virtually tied among this demographic.
Millions of young Americans are defecting to the GOP. And it’s no wonder why—the Democratic Party leadership is significantly older than its core constituency: Joe Biden is 81; Nancy Pelosi is 84; and Chuck Schumer is 73. And none of this is to mention Senator Feinstein and Justice Ginsburg, who guarded their power till their deaths at ages 90 and 87 respectively.
The Democratic Party has become a misnomer. By favoring the old over the young, it is actively negating the will of the demos. That’s how the party nominated an aging politician that polls consistently lower than his younger counterparts. And it’s why the party appears incapable of swapping him out anytime soon.
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The irony: Joe Biden embodies the Democratic Party’s age problem. But he is also the only person who can fix it.
If Biden wants what’s best for his legacy, he should throw out the old Democratic playbook that encourages politicians to hold onto power for as long as they hold onto life. And he should look instead to the example of Senator Hatch. As Hatch demonstrated, retiring with dignity is the first step to empowering the next generation. If Biden can muster the courage to take that step, he can help renew both his party and the nation.
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