George Washington could have a surprising impact on this year's election
George Washington, by Gilbert Stuart, c. 1803-05, American painting, oil on canvas / Shutterstock
July 04, 2024
The nation's first president could have a big impact on this year's election campaign.
President Joe Biden is facing calls to step aside after his feeble performance at last week's presidential debate, and Axios reported that several Democrats would follow the lead of a columnist the president respects and cite George Washington's example in asking him to give up his re-election campaign.
"Tom Friedman, Biden's favorite New York Times columnist, cleverly celebrated George Washington twice in his second piece calling for Biden to step aside," reported Axios co-founders Mike Allen and Jim Vande Hei. "This is what several Democrats will tell Biden if they're allowed near him: You can be a great man, a historic figure, if you do what the founding president did and put country over ambition. Then trust your party and then the American people to do the right thing."
Friedman quoted a scene from the musical "Hamilton" where Washington surprised Alexander Hamilton by informing him he would step down rather than seek a third term as president, which he argued was a scenario that kept Donald Trump awake at night.
"Yes, what Trump fears most right now is that Biden will teach the country how to say goodbye," Friedman wrote.
Friedman argued that Biden would be reaffirming the nation's founding virtues in direct contrast to Trump's antidemocratic impulses, and pointed to another example of Washington demonstrating his leadership by giving up his authority.
"Gautam Mukunda, a presidential scholar and the author of 'Picking Presidents,' pointed out to me the other day that 'in 1783, when George Washington announced that he would surrender his commission, King George III of England — the man whose empire he destroyed — said that if he did this "he would be the greatest man in the world,'" Friedman wrote. "Fourteen years later Washington did it again, leaving the presidency willingly when he could easily have made himself president for life. The father of our country sealed his greatness by showing that sometimes the best thing a president can do for his country is give up the presidency. Today, in the face of the worst threat to our democracy since the Civil War, Joe Biden can cement his legacy by following Washington’s example.'"
The president continues to insist he's 100 percent committed to remaining in the race, Axios reported that "some of his close friends still think he'll make what they consider the obvious decision and bow out," and Friedman gave him another nudge in that direction.
"Biden, besides being a good man, has been a truly consequential president," Friedman wrote. "He deserves to be remembered as the leader who saved the country from Trump in 2020, lifted us from the dark days of the Covid pandemic, passed critical legislation to rebuild America’s infrastructure, renewed the dignity of work, promoted the transition to a green economy — and, in the end, knew when and how to say goodbye."
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