To the editor: President Biden angrily rejecting the suggestion that he be replaced at the top of the Democratic ticket reminds me a lot of when he tried to take the car keys away from my father. I’m sure many of us can relate to that difficult and uncomfortable situation. We want to give our parents as much freedom as possible and keep their sense of control over their lives intact, but we are mindful of others who might be affected by their decision to continue driving.
My father, a World War II Navy veteran, was an excellent driver and drove for 72 years. There was no one I felt safer with in the car. He never had an accident or got a ticket. He never got lost. As my father began to slow down, small mistakes happened and I began to always offer to drive. Then I had to start insisting. There were arguments, but I always wanted my father to feel like he was still in control of his life.
After some errors in judgment and a near-fatal accident, we told him those errors were adding up. We had to take away his keys. It was the best thing for everyone. He survived. He adapted. He lived another eight years to age 94, and we all remember and love him.
President Biden has taken over the American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, expanded benefits and services for veterans exposed to toxins, and more. With him at the helm, many things have become possible.
But at this point, I no longer want to ride in his car as a passenger. It's time to hand the car keys to a younger, more experienced Democrat.
Kristi Golden, Mission Viejo
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To the editor: All the Democrats who have been openly saying that Biden should step aside have stooped to the standards of Trump and his cronies. Trump is the best at generating fear. He is excellent at making people doubt and by always saying negative things, people start to believe his rhetoric.
If you had any doubts about Biden, you should have asked him or his team privately, not publicly. You are as guilty of this problem as Trump. It is too late in the election year to change candidates. Biden has an excellent cabinet and an excellent vice president. There is no question that the last four years have been much better with Biden, and we need to keep him in office. Trust Biden, his cabinet, and his vice president.
Make sure all Democrats get out and vote; show your support for Biden; you yourself can change the course of this election campaign. Trump will not win; no one wants a dictator, not even Republicans.
S. George Russell, Shawnee, Kansas.
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To the editor: No one can know the future. Replacing Biden as the Democratic nominee is far from a sure path to a Democratic president in 2025. I keep thinking of Lyndon B. Johnson, who dropped 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 well: the cosmos is certainly doing everything it can to guarantee him a second term.
The Supreme Court just gave him a “get out of jail free” card. Fani Willis botched the Georgia corruption case by having an affair with a colleague; Jack Smith took years to file a lawsuit against Trump for inciting a riot that resulted in deaths and dozens of injuries among police officers; Joe Biden grew older and frailer; and the Democratic leadership is so blindly loyal that it remains faithful to the one person who defeated Trump, no matter that the Biden who defeated 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 part of the “elite,” just a concerned member of the “common people.” President Biden’s current fitness is questionable and his inability to continue for four more years is obvious.
As a lifelong average citizen and a Democrat who has never voted for a Republican, my president should, at the very least, have the ability to think intelligently in this challenging world. President Biden, a true hero with the traits necessary to oppose the repugnant Trump, has fallen victim to the political disease known as “arrogant Ginsburgitis.” Like the judge and Senator Dianne Feinstein, he believes he is irreplaceable. Please join me in fervently hoping that he makes a full recovery before it is too late. This decent man’s blindness does not help, but actually increases the staggering possibility that a criminal will further disgrace the presidency.
Mark J. Diniakos, Thousand Oaks
