OPINION | Why Are We Wasting Time Worrying About The Bidens?
The former president, his family and staff are now largely irrelevant politically
Call it a political time warp.
In recent days, there’s been a spasm of analysis and finger-pointing over former President Joe Biden, his wife, former First Lady Jill Biden and campaign staff along with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The discussions have run along familiar lines: What responsibility does Joe Biden hold for helping lose the 2024 election? What role did Jill Biden have in pushing her husband to stay in the race for reelection after his disastrous debate against Donald Trump? And gossip about Biden staffers trying to kneecap the Harris campaign after Biden eventually dropped out.
Of course, there were also a lot of the “greatest hits,” pulling apart Biden’s apparent mental deterioration.
These are the kind of stories we in the news business derisively called “thumbsuckers,” and is the kind of fodder I would expect legacy and corporate media to obsess over pointlessly.
But I was disappointed to see many in the new, independent media focus on these stories as well, including some on the progressive left like podcaster and YouTuber Sam Seder of The Majority Report.
My question is: Why the hell are we wasting our time any of this?
Especially those like Seder, who I normally really respect and admire. Why devote time to obsessing over the Bidens when the time would have been better spent talking about the genocide in Gaza or any of the other stories that are getting short shrift in mainstream media?
I think that I can be fairly authoritative in saying that Joe Biden’s time in politics is over and that Jill Biden, too, will never again walk the public stage.
Even the ongoing relevance of Kamala Harris — certainly outside her native California — is really questionable.
The truth is — to employ a turn of phrase that’s become cliche — that forget our world, our nation is on fire.
It’s no surprise that we’re sliding closer toward authoritarianism by the day, and that the most vulnerable among us are losing rights and access to government resources and programs necessary for survival.
That seems much more worthy of the coverage for media — especially progressive independent media — than any stale, inside-the-Beltway wankfests.
Progressive and independent media has been pushing Democrats to do more to meet the moment. Maybe it’s time for these same media to also do more to meet the moment themselves.
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