Election 2024

Joe Lancaster | 7.23.2024 2:45 PM

On Sunday, President Joe Biden made history when he ended his reelection bid, becoming the first sitting president in over 50 years to decline his party's nomination while still eligible for another term.

Over the last 48 hours, many liberal and progressive voices have praised Biden's decision to stand down and the courage it demonstrates. But did Biden really perform a courageous act?

Slate legal writer Mark Joseph Stern posted on X that he was "feeling overwhelmed with gratitude toward Joe Biden for making this sacrifice."

"An actual hero," wrote New York Times columnist Ezra Klein.

Biden "has placed the national interest above his own pride and ambition," wrote the Times editorial board.

In a Times editorial of his own, presidential historian and Biden adviser Jon Meacham was most fawning of all, calling Biden's decision "one of the most remarkable acts of leadership in our history" and comparing the current president to George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt.

"President Biden has decided that this campaign is not about him but about us," Meacham later told MSNBC's Katy Tur. "I think the country should take a moment and realize the magnitude of the decision," that Biden "put the life of the nation above his own political individual ambition."

But before we recommend Biden for sainthood, let's consider what led to his decision in the first place.

Biden's exit came three weeks after a disastrously poor debate........

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