President Joe Biden is no hero.

He is a purely transactional, thin-skinned career politician blessed with the gift of failing up. His family motto may just as well be, "What's in it for me?" He is certainly not George Washington, though you'd think otherwise after following the news this week.

On Wednesday, Biden delivered an address from the Oval Office, explaining his July 21 decision to end his reelection effort. Though his speech was heavy on reasons why the very survival of the United States depends on Democrats maintaining control of the White House, it was light on explaining why he is no longer running for reelection.

"America is going to have to choose between moving forward or backward, between hope and hate, between unity and division," Biden said. "I ran for president four years ago because I believed and still do that the soul of America was at stake. The very nature of who we are was at stake. And that's still the case."

"When you elected me to this office, I promised to always level with you, to tell you the truth," he said before adding later, "I'm the first president this century to report to the American people that the United States is not at war anywhere in the world."

Hours before his address, the Pentagon announced airstrikes in Yemen.

"[T]he sacred cause of this country is larger than any one of us," Biden's address continued. "And those of us who cheri[sh] that cause — cherish it so much — the cause of American democracy itself — must unite to protect it … Let's act together to preserve our democracy."

Even before the president had said a word from the Oval Office, members of the press were hailing him as a selfless hero for finally succumbing to the Democratic pressure campaign to force him........

© The Hill