When it’s Joever, President Michelle Obama

A fight between the infirm and the insane, a battle between a president on a wheelchair and a president who is a convicted felon, between the good and the bad, between a basically good man and one who could be congenitally evil.

These are the two gravely unpalatable, absolutely unappetizing choices given Americans in the world’s richest country and the best democracy ever, come the Nov. 5, 2024 presidential elections.

For the Philippines and for millions of Filipinos (including the 4.5 million in America), the stakes in this year’s US poll have never been bigger than ever and more profound – in terms of the economic, security and geopolitical impact and, indeed, in terms of the future of our own democracy. Remember it was a US president who ousted the last majority elected Philippine president, before Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has veered dangerously close to Washington DC.

The New York Times called President Joseph R. Biden’s June 27, 2024 debate with former president Donald J. Trump a “politically devastating performance.” “Biden’s shaky, halting debate performance has Democrats talking about replacing him on the ticket,” said America’s most influential paper bluntly.

If Biden does not withdraw, Trump, pundits say, is sure to be reelected president.

Trump has been convicted of 34 felonies for falsifying business records, the first president found guilty of a crime. He is also the first president in history to be impeached twice, and the first to run again after impeachment.

Trump was first impeached by the Democratic-controlled House in December 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for attempts to coerce Ukraine to provide damaging information on Biden and misinformation regarding Russian interference in the 2016 US elections by withholding military aid.

Trump was impeached the second time on Jan. 13, 2021, for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. In both cases, the Senate acquitted Trump.

Trump has threatened to pull out from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and likes to cultivate friendship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China and Kim Jong Un of North Korea. If elected, Trump most likely will join the trio’s “Axis of Impunity,” as Al Jazeera puts it.

“Joe Biden looks like the caricature that the conservative media has been painting,” said NBC News’ Chuck Todd. Among a lot of leaders in the Democratic Party, elected coalition leaders, he added, “there’s a full-on panic about this performance. Not like, ‘Oh, this is recoverable.’ It is more of, ‘OK, he’s got to step aside.’

“Biden, who at 81 is the oldest person ever to hold the office, has displayed signs of accelerated aging in recent months, said numerous aides, foreign officials, members of Congress, donors and others who have interacted with Biden over the last 3½ years, noting that he moves more slowly, speaks more softly and has moments when he loses his train of thought more often than even just a year ago,” reported The Washington Post.

“None of those who spoke to The Washington Post said they had seen Biden appear as lost and confused as he did at the presidential debate… where his halting performance sent panic through the Democratic Party.” Former and current Biden officials had confided he “increasingly appeared confused or listless, or would lose the thread of conversations.”

Added The New York Times: “Like many people his age, Mr. Biden, 81, has long experienced instances in which he mangled a sentence, forgot a name or mixed up a few facts, even though he could be sharp and engaged most of the time. But in interviews, people in the room with him more recently said that the lapses seemed to be growing more frequent, more pronounced and more worrisome.”

To be sure, noted NYT, “Mr. Trump, 78, has also shown signs of slipping over the years since he was first elected to the White House. He often confuses names and details and makes statements that are incoherent. He maintains a lighter public schedule than Mr. Biden, does not exercise and repeatedly appeared to fall asleep in the middle of his recent hush money trial. His campaign has released only a three-paragraph health summary. Voters have expressed concern about his age as well, but not to the same degree as Mr. Biden’s.”

Before the June 27 debate, NYT recalled, “Mr. Biden had granted fewer interviews than any president of the modern era and fewer news conferences than any president since Ronald Reagan.”

On the occasions Biden spoke to reporters on short notice, it did not always go well. Reported the Times: “When special counsel, Robert K. Hur, characterized the president as a ‘well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,’ Biden defended himself and his memory to reporters but referred to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt as the ‘president of Mexico’ in the process.”

Several names are being bruited to replace defiant Biden – Vice President Kamala Harris (who is not that popular), California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, former first lady and Senator Hilary Clinton and former first lady Michelle Obama.

My bet is Madam Michelle, 60, a graduate of Harvard Law School and, per Wikipedia, “as first lady, Obama served as a role model for women and worked as an advocate for poverty awareness, education, nutrition, physical activity and healthy eating. She supported American designers and was considered a fashion icon.” After eight years of the Obama presidency, Michelle’s influence has remained high.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll considered “a hypothetical matchup” between Michelle and Donald Trump. She would have 50 percent of the vote, and the former president would have 39 percent of the vote.

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