To the editor: President Biden, angrily pushing back on the suggestion that he be replaced on the top of the Democratic ticket, reminds me a lot of trying to take the car keys away from my dad. I’m sure many of us can relate to that difficult and uncomfortable scenario. We want to give our parents as much agency as possible and keep their sense of control of their life intact, but take into account the others who might be affected by their decision to keep driving.
My dad, a WWII Navy veteran, was an excellent driver and drove for 72 years. There wasn’t anyone I felt safer with in the car. He never had an accident or got a ticket. He never got lost. As my dad was starting to slow down, small errors occurred and I began to always offer to drive. Then I had to start insisting. There were arguments, but I always wanted my dad to feel that he was still in control of his life.
After a few lapses in judgment and a near miss, we told him those mistakes were adding up. We had to take away his keys. It was better for everyone. He survived. He adjusted. He lived another eight years until age 94, and is remembered and beloved by all.
President Biden commandeered the American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, expanded benefits and services for veterans exposed to toxins, and more. With him in the driver’s seat many things have become possible.
But at this point, I don’t want to ride in his car as a passenger anymore. Time to pass on the car keys to an experienced, younger Democrat.
Kristi Golden, Mission Viejo
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To the editor: All you Democrats out there who have been openly saying Biden should step aside have lowered yourselves to Trump and his cronies’ standards. Trump is best at fear-mongering. He is excellent at making people doubt, and by always saying negative things, people start buying into his rhetoric.
If you had doubts about Biden, they should have been asked privately to him or his staff, not in the public domain. You are as much to blame for this problem as Trump. It’s too late in the election year to change candidates. Biden has an excellent cabinet and an excellent vice president. There is no doubt that the last four years have been much better under Biden, and we need to keep him in office. Trust Biden, his cabinet and his VP.
Make sure all Democrats get out and vote; show your support for Biden; you, yourselves can turn this campaign election around. Trump will not win; nobody wants a dictator, even the Republicans.
S. George Russell, Shawnee, Kan.
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To the editor: No one can know the future. Replacing Biden as the Democratic candidate is far from a sure path to a Democratic president in 2025. I keep thinking of Lyndon B. Johnson bowing out of his reelection campaign in 1968. That decision brought us President Richard Nixon.
Kevin Smith, Iowa City, Iowa
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To the editor: Donald Trump must be living right — the cosmos is certainly doing everything possible to make sure he secures a second term.
The Supreme Court just gave him a “get out of jail free” card. Fani Willis ruined the Georgia corruption case by having an affair with a colleague; Jack Smith took years to bring a case against Trump for having incited a riot that resulted in deaths and dozens of injuries to police officers; Joe Biden got older and more frail; and the democratic leadership is so blindly loyal that they are sticking with the only person to defeat Trump — never mind that the Biden who beat Trump is no longer the same. Whatever happened to the law of karma?
Bernard Schwartz, Laguna Beach
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To the editor: I am certainly not one of the “elites,” just a concerned member of the “ordinaries.” President Biden’s current fitness is questionable and his unfitness for four more years obvious.
As a lifelong average citizen and Democrat who has never voted for a Republican, my president should, at a minimum, have the ability to think cleverly on his feet in this challenging world. President Biden, a true hero with those traits needed to oppose the revolting Trump, has fallen victim to the political disease Arrogant Ginsburg-itis. Like the justice and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, he thinks he’s irreplaceable. Please join me in the fervent hope he makes a complete recovery before it’s too late. This decent man’s blindness is not helping, but actually increasing the amazing possibility of a felonious criminal further disgracing the presidency.
Mark J. Diniakos, Thousand Oaks
