ANGELO LYNN

The story of the Democrat Party pushing President Biden out of the limelight has been overblown by a national media too accustomed to selling sensationalism, rather than pursuing logical outcomes.

Listening to the dozens of TV commentators and political pundits in newspapers and periodicals across the country tell the story, Biden’s decision was not only forced upon him by ruthless party leaders against his will, but he was ignominiously booted by an underappreciative Democratic party. And the nonsense about the party slighting Biden’s Monday night appearance by pushing it past prime time — an unintended consequence of several other factors — just feeds the hyped drama.

It is one angle of the story, but it misses the more logical assumption: that Biden was convinced by party leaders that if he wanted to preserve his outstanding legacy of service for the past 50 years, he should do that by going out on top. It would be the ultimate sacrifice for him to step aside, for the party’s sake and the country’s sake, rather than stay in the race and most likely lose the rematch to Trump.

The convincing required by party leaders was that his candidacy was not going well, for his presidential hopes or hopes to control the House and Senate, and trends were headed south. This is, of course, the proper role of a functioning political party — to continually assess and guide its leaders to the best outcome possible for the party and the country. Unlike the Republican Party, which has allowed itself to be cannibalized by a single unhinged person, the Democratic Party did what it was supposed to do.

It took several long weeks and no doubt it was difficult for the president to admit that all of his work to set the stage for a strong economy — with the pandemic behind us, inflation finally in check, provisions made for drug prices to be capped starting in January 2025, with China’s economic ascendency faltering, NATO stronger than ever, and with billions in domestic infrastructure projects juicing the national economy for years of continued growth — didn’t happen soon enough to convince voters the economy and the nation were on the right track.

Recognizing that reality was no doubt a bitter pill for Biden to swallow, and his personal mantra to never give up made it harder, but at the end of the day it was Biden’s decision, and his decision alone. And while the decision to step aside was not done with glee, it allows him the opportunity to go out a winner with the most noble of all claims — the love of country over self.

“It’s been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your president,” he said toward the end of his 52-minute speech capping the first night of the Democratic convention. “I love the job, but I love my country more. I love my country more. And all this talk about how I’m angry at all the people who said I should step down — it’s not true.”

If Harris-Walz win, it’s President Biden who goes down in recent history as the GOAT — not only for his significant accomplishments in four short years as president, but for his leadership, grit, grace, integrity and humility during a time in which the nation’s democracy was facing its most significant threat since the Civil War.

Angelo Lynn