Joe Biden didn’t leave the race because he wasn’t able to do the job. He was campaigning and working as president at a pace that would be difficult for many of us to sustain. His poor debate performance was followed by upbeat rallies and an hour-long, detailed foreign policy press conference. But party bosses and big donors panicked based on questionable polls done three months before the election. And major media outlets continued their campaigns to undermine him.

The horse race spectacle was needed to keep the clicks happening. Full speed ahead, damn the democracy! Ageism had the last word. In a youth and appearance-obsessed culture, an older man with a speech impediment who didn’t take the stairs two at a time was more than the country could stomach, in spite of his truly historic accomplishments.

The irony is that November’s election isn’t about the two people running to be president. It’s about two starkly different visions for the country. MAGA’s continued erosion of our rights and undermining of our economic well-being, versus continued progress by Democrats to orient the country toward protected and expanded freedoms, and shared prosperity in a more stable world.

In other words, preserving our democracy so the next generation has the opportunity to keep working toward its promise of a “…more perfect union.”

Mary Ann Larson
Bangor