For most of my adult life I, like most Americans, have found myself, as the minute hand nears the top of that great four-year election clock, wondering why we can’t do better. Compared to what the nation seemed capable of, the two politicians chosen for the top job have ranged from wildly disappointing to laughably inadequate to barely acceptable. And even on the rare occasions when a candidate didn’t make you feel that way, they ended up either losing badly or turning in a lackluster and uninspiring term. No matter your political convictions, it has always been an article of faith among us all that when it comes to Presidential candidates, we deserve better.
And surely if ever there was a year where that was true, this would be it. Donald Trump circa 2016 or 2020 makes Donald Trump 2024 look bad. Which is really saying something. And Joe Biden 2020 is light-years better than Joe Biden 2024. There is not another candidate in my lifetime — even Jimmy (ineffectual is my middle name) Carter — that I wouldn’t pick over either 2024 nominee. Where is Jr. when we really need him? I’d vote for the ghost of Nixon if I had the choice.
The choice is so bad that it’s impossible to imagine watching their upcoming debate. Where is the United Nations when we need them? Where is the International Court of Justice? Surely CNN is committing some kind of war crime by broadcasting this thing. Viewers should be given one of those S&M codewords that they can shout out to end the torture when it becomes more than they can bear. Watching two hours of Trump and Biden will be like sticking your head in a used toilet bowl and holding it until you can’t.
Why would any sane person watch? Surely not to learn anything we don’t already know about Trump or Biden. Is it for the people who like to stare at the broken bodies of the people in the wreck as they drive past? Not me, my friend. Not me.
And yet, these days I don’t find myself asking why we can’t do better. I don’t find myself thinking we deserve more. No. Based on what I read, what I see, and even what I hear when I listen to people talk about politics, what I find myself thinking is that I was probably wrong all those past years. We didn’t really deserve better; in fact, we were probably getting better than we deserved. Romney vs. Obama? Those guys were so much better than we are.
Here, at last, we have an election that represents who we are as a people.
Or maybe not. I find myself thinking that we still have a ways down to go. Sure, the Republicans may have found their ideal spokesperson and candidate. Vain, insecure, small-minded, vicious, not particularly bright, deeply unlearned, and, as a 2024 bonus, full of resentment, it’s no wonder his people love the Donald. It will not be easy to ever again find anyone so perfect for his voters. You don’t find many MAGA Republicans thinking to themselves, “I wish we had a better candidate. We deserve more.” And they’re right not to. The clowns, hucksters and cuckoos who follow in his wake, form his posse, and spread his shit may someday yield an even less appetizing fruit, but I have my doubts.
But the Democrats can surely do better. Yes, to his unquestioned status as a hack politician, Biden now adds adjectives like senile and doddering. Yet Joe Biden is nowhere near the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the ideological left. Sure, there is reflected glory in sticking with a candidate manifestly incapable of doing the job just to maximize your chance of winning. Yet a truly perfect Democratic candidate would be far more arrogant, intolerant, condescending and incomprehensible than Joe Biden can manage on his worst day. Democrats can’t really be happy with Joe Biden — he’s far too good for them.
Perhaps, if we are very lucky and Biden wins, four years from now we can look forward to the election we really do deserve. We could get a fresh serving of Donald Trump (why change horses when you have a proven loser) along with a more representative demagogue on the left. Bernie will be a sprightly 86. We could look back on 2024 and think wistfully how young the candidates were back then. Or perhaps someone from the ‘squad’ will step up. Everyone, at last, could be truly happy with their candidate.
I can hardly wait.
Postscript
Admittedly things look pretty terrible right now. But things have looked terrible before. To cheer you up, here’s my personal ranked presidential election candidate pairings (feel free to contribute your own ranking):
So, yeah, the last 12 years have been terrible. But damn, those Vietnam years were pretty awful too. Nixon-McGovern? Carter-Ford? Those are some bad candidates. When Nixon-Humphrey is your bright spot, the world is pretty dark. So, cheer-up, things do sometimes get better, and perhaps soon we can go back to complaining that we don’t get the candidates we deserve.