On Joe Biden 2024: To Be or Not To Be...

It's almost 1.5 years since Joe Biden took office in Jan 2021. His honeymoon period apparently is officially over, with approval ratings at new low at 36%. Democrats are already bracing themselves for total rollback from the Blue Wave (its successful campaign in taking back control in the House in 2018), due to the backlash against progressive push (case in point: Defund The Police, and prison reforms, that result in huge surge in quality-of-life crimes) which would almost certainly see GOP winning back the House again. And now, it's open season for anyone to muse out loud whether Biden should run again in 2024.

If the President has been a strong one, it would have been unthinkable for anyone in his own party to even dare to think otherwise that an incumbent president should quit running for reelection. Unfortunately for Biden, his hands (metaphorically) are weak, and he's perceived as weak. 

Joe Biden is a politician from another era, an earlier era that still values compromise and politicking in getting policies passed, for the greater good of the country. These days, everyone seems intent to be the loudest, crudest, crassest, just so that they can get their 15-minute of fame long enough. Biden is not made of that stuff. He's a gentleman, and he values being nice and loved while getting things done.

And then there's the issue of age/health. Biden is 79 now, and he would be 82 if he were to win a second term, so that he would be a very ripe age of 86 at the end of a second term. He would never be or do crude and reckless things as Trump, and he would never yell at the top of his lungs as Bernie Sanders. In short, Biden would never style himself the way that younger generations want him to be.

From a more pragmatic perspective, voters see all the wrong things that might (and oftentimes might not) be the making of Biden, but it's counted against him nonetheless since the events are happening under his watch. To name a few:

• No fault: Supreme Court potential rollback of Roe v Wade, as noted in the leak. Thanks to the three SCOTUS appointees from Trump that tilt the balance to GOP favor, together with the numerous judges that he appointed to the federal becnh, this would likely to be the most long-lasting impacts of Trump. On this, Biden can't do a damn thing about.
• Partial fault: High inflation and gas price surge isn't something entirely within Biden's control, yet Biden has made it worse. Yes, the economy was ravaged by Covid in the past two odd years, but the shock-and-awe of ARP (American Rescue Plan) passed by Biden in 2021 was arguably too large, stuffing free money in people's pockets, most of whom didn't need it, resulting in a substantial spillover to push the stock market to ridiculous height. There's no surprises that most meme stocks and crypocurrency like Bitcoin, together with all the tech stocks, are all crashing to pre-2020 level, and then some. Thank goodness BBB (Build Back Better Bill) did not pass - God bless Joe Manchin. I cannot fathom what the inflation would be like if another $2.2T is added to an already inflated economy and marketplace.
• Biden's fault: The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan was totally an unforced error. Yes, the retreat is long overdue, but the chaotic scenes in the final days were a splitting image from the humiliating retreat from the Vietnam War, a painful reminder to American voters that the $2.3T wasted there over 20 years, and 2448 soldiers died fighting, was all for nothing. Biden is correct to end US involvement there, but the retreat should not be this messy. And now, Taliban went right back in, without much of a bullet fired.
• Biden's fault: The abrupt end of Stay-In-Mexico policy, leading to huge surge in illegal migrant surge and migrant bus in southern borders without putting in place any plans for the surge, totally shed the image that Biden is the-man-with-a-plan for everything. In a way, I can understand Biden's hope to keep this campaign promise, thanks to the relentless push by the progressives to effectively open the southern borders to all illegal migrants who want in, but that's a dereliction of duties to enforce federal policy on border control. Humanitarian goals notwithstanding, it's pure madness.
• Biden's merits (of sorts): Consensus and coalition building works out for Ukraine, in sanctioning Russia, but it can't stop Putin from dragging out the unprovoked attack. Blinken (Biden's Secretary of State) is also working hard to build coalition to contain China's aggression. Its a laudable goal, yet one must not forget that autocracy like Russia and China are not "gentlemen," they do not respect rules or laws (unless it's their rules/law), and they will not stop pushing the envelope, salami-slicing style, unless and until they feel real pain with solid hit-in-the-head. Talks and more talks will never work (just look at how useless EU/NATO have been in pushing back Russia on the Ukraine war), and "compromise" means only one thing: You give them what they want. 
• Partial fault: Progressives have been pushing hard on police reforms, but as with so many other initiatives that the progressives did, their laudable goals and inexperienced execution (or willfully ignoring reality on the ground), it leads to crime wave in cities after cities. Is there any wonder why the liberal DA got recalled after only two years in office even in the very liberal SF? Would Dems leadership like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden still be cowered by the noisy minority progressives and continue the death march off the cliff by catering to every one of their whims?
• Biden's merits: At least he has some good sense to keep the Trump's policies in place against China. The naked aggression of CCP is plain for all to see. CCP is getting very good at talking empty words, mimicking western politicians' rhetoric to justify their every transgressions. I'm however not holding my breath that Biden will stand firm for very long. At some point he'll fold and give in to Big Business lobbyists to stand down. Then Taiwan would doom, much as Hong Kong has been.

I can't believe I say this, but 1.5 years into it, I'm already getting tired of Joe Biden. He's a nice guy, but his time has passed, probably 30 years ago. If Biden is not-to-be, what next?

As an Independent, I'll discard all the loudmouthed progressives like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Some of their agenda is still worth looking into, but I simply cannot stand them, much like their younger offshoot AOC. Kamala Harris is just a useless diva.

The only one that appeals to me, in terms of policy, execution, temperament, is Pete Buttigieg. If he's on the 2024 ticket, I'll vote for Dems.

As to the GOP side, all the moderates are dead in the water. GOP has their own dead march, if they get cowered again by Trump and let him run again. DeSantis, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley are arguably worse. Thank goodness, idiots like Cawthorn are out, though I won't be surprised if more idiots bubble up to the GOP surface. It would not be the first time.