Commentary

By Loyal and Charlotte Baker

DAYTON–We got out of Algebra II to watch the Watergate Hearings in the spring of 1974 (fifty years ago!) but were more concerned with other things as sixteen-year olds. Later in August, my vacationing aunt and uncle and cousins paid a visit to me on the job at the Green Giant Cannery, mentioning, oh, by the way, Nixon resigned.

Except for it being my birthday, which was usually celebrated in the harvest field with birthday buddy Wincel Abel, August 9 was not that momentous to me that summer of 1974. I heard Nixon had resigned his position to protect the integrity and honor of his office on that day, and I remember him standing at the helicopter doorway, waving with his two fingers in a peace sign before disappearing inside the aircraft for his last journey on Air Force One.

Those were momentous times. And here we go again. President Joe Biden, at nearly the last minute, has withdrawn his candidacy.

The last three or four weeks have been historically momentous. This time the world is in a much more precarious state and national security of the United States is more threatened than it was in 1974.

Since the presidential debate on June 27, questions abound regarding President Biden’s mental acuity. The man has been clearly failing for quite some time, and it may come to pass, following the thorough investigation that is sure to occur, that administration officials have been covering up his condition.

Regardless of whether he turns the wrong way to exit a stage, or appears to wander away from international political officials as he did at the D-Day events, Biden’s ability to be alert and cognizant, if woken at 3 a.m. with an international crisis, is seriously in doubt.

Have you noticed, as we have, that a number of international incidents involving either Ukraine or Israel occur and its nearly a week before there’s any sort of reaction or statement coming out of the White House.

After the debate, Biden’s handlers attempted to speak out in the press about the president’s sharpness and “nothing to see here.” That it is simply spoken of prompts the question: is there a problem?

What is more frightening is that America’s position of power is clearly compromised around the globe. Enemies–and they are out there–notice this vulnerability. Will it be an international incident or a domestic attack?

Let’s hope and pray that the bad actors elsewhere in the world are still respectful of the United States’ capabilities and resolve to stave off any possibility of an international or domestic calamity.