David Brooks to Biden: Be Post-Politics, Don’t Try To Fight An Old Battle
PBS NEWSHOUR: New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart join Geoff Bennett to discuss the week in politics, including the election of the first American pope and his potential impact on U.S. culture and politics, former President Biden’s media tour and Supreme Court justices defending an independent judiciary.
GEOFF BENNETT, PBS NEWSHOUR: The second Catholic elected, but certainly the most devout, you could argue. Anyway, President Biden’s been on something of a media tour. He’s speaking with the BBC. He appeared on “The View,” offering this counter to President Trump’s agenda while trying to shape his own legacy. In one interview, he said he wasn’t surprised that Vice President Harris lost. He cited racism and sexism playing a role in that. But he says he believes he could have beaten Donald Trump. Is he right about that? And is there any sort of strategic value in saying that out loud right now? DAVID BROOKS, NEW YORK TIMES: You know, I think he’s empirically wrong about that. Kamala Harris ran about as good a campaign as she could. She was saddled with the Biden legacy, an unpopular presidency. Biden would have been saddled by that legacy in addition to his age. So you take those two factors, it’s hard to see how he wins. But he’s a man with a – he’s proud man with a chip on his shoulder who feels himself under attack, frankly, in the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. And so he wants to stand up for himself. I would only counsel him as someone, who’s a longtime admirer of Joe Biden, is that what we want from our presidents is not more politics. What we want from our presidents is somebody who’s post-politics, who can speak to us from a higher level, not in the partisan mud. And Jimmy Carter did that. I think George W. Bush has done that through his painting. You do a book of paintings about immigrants, you do a book about paintings about veterans, you have expressed a set of values without being political. And if I were – if Joe Biden ever called me to say, what should you do with his post-presidency, which is probably not going to happen… And I would say, be post-political, rise above it and don’t get back in – don’t try to fight old battle.
