Thank you, President Biden!

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"Whatever must happen ultimately should happen immediately." Quote from the late Henry Kissinger, U.S. Ambassador

It took an extraordinary level of valor, patriotism, deference, altruism, and humility for Joseph R. Biden, the 46th President of the United States, to announce yesterday that he will not accept the Democratic Party's nomination for a second term next month in Chicago. 

With the announcement coming less than 48 hours after the Republican Convention concluded with a strong media bump for Donald Trump, the mainstream media airwaves were dominated yesterday by Biden's historic decision—the first time a sitting president has chosen not to run for reelection since Lyndon Johnson in ‘68—and the pending decision that Democrats must soon make to pick his successor on the 2024 ticket.

As Mr. Biden is a career politician who has been either a United States Senator, Vice President, or President for my entire 52 years of living, I can only imagine that as the phone calls, personal visits, emails, text messages, and editorials calling for him to step aside to allow a younger Democrat to take on Donald Trump this Fall poured in, that he slowly—but ultimately—realized that he did not want the historical record to ever reflect that he placed his own desires and ambitions above the serious threats facing our system of democracy. 

And those threats are real; Project 2025 is a lengthy manifesto from the conservative Heritage Foundation that would invest greater power in the Executive Branch; eliminate programs for racial, gender, and sexual orientation equality; launch a renewed nuclear arms race; shift federal oversight of education and elections more towards the states; create deeper corporate tax cuts without addressing corporate greed or inflation; severely restrict immigration for non-whites, and raze the wall between church in state in favor of establishing eurocentric Christian Nationalism as America's de facto religion. This manifesto has been written by veterans of Donald Trump's first term—and would comprise the blueprint for his second term should he prevail this November.

Thus, the stakes are high and in the final analysis, I imagine that perhaps Mr. Biden fully embraced the deeper meaning of "isn't it rich, isn't it queer, losing my timing this late in my career," arguably the saddest and most iconic line in the Frank Sinatra classic Send in the Clowns. And to that point, there's nothing for Biden to be ashamed of, because like him, each of us, if blessed with length of years, will deal with the inevitable decline in our physical bodies, our mental faculties, and our abilities to simply get things done at some point in time. 

And make no mistake, the Biden administration got alot done over the past three and a half years, from moving to protect women's reproductive rights in federal jurisdictions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade; improving America's aging Roosevelt-Eisenhower era railways, roads, and bridges; student loan debt relief for millions of college and professional school graduates; record breaking billions of dollars in grants to HBCU's; nominating Ketanji Brown-Jackson to become the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court; allocating funds to combat climate control and advocating measures to protect marriage equality, just to name a few!

Biden, cognizant that many Americans are struggling with inflation and the high costs of food and goods in this post-pandemic era, also pushed hard for the Inflation Reduction Act, a measure that EACH and EVERY single Republican in Congress voted against in 2022 per the orders of their wealthy corporate cronies who fill their campaign coffers—and the sidelines encouragement from their leader, Citizen Donald Trump!

And while there is so much more to be done, especially with regards to inflation, Mr. Biden signaled that the next person to get things done should be Kamala Harris, his loyal Vice President who he fully endorsed yesterday afternoon.

The Heir Apparent? Stay tuned…

In the 12 hours after Biden's endorsement of Harris, he was followed by venerable South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn, both former President and Secretary of State Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry—all firmly on board the Team Harris train! More astonishingly (and pertinently), in the hours after Biden's endorsement, grassroot supporters raised over $100 million for the Harris campaign—while over 45,000 Black women met via Zoom to foment “one voice, one fight” while strategizing a pathway to victory over the next 106 days!

While there will be ample time to discuss the Harris campaign in the days ahead, I would be remiss if I didn't note on this day my great admiration for President Biden's selfless act; I sincerely hope that as he finishes his term, be that in January of 2025 or even earlier if his health concerns make it necessary to resign, that he will go into his retirement recognizing that his career was filled with highlights that proved his mettle and pugnaciousness time and again, while taking solace in the old saying that “Father Time is undefeated”—even against political heavyweights like he has been for over five decades!

The Bidens

And I offer the soon to be retired President Biden my sincerest thanks because I know that many millions of Americans and people around the world are better off today due to his career in public service over thousands of yesterdays!

Lest we forget...