In September 1796, two months before the presidential election, George Washington announced that he would not seek re-election.
Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself, and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.
Washington’s Farewell Address to the People of the United States
The farewell address is one of the great testaments to the founding principles of America’s democratic tradition. Founded in opposition to the monarchy founded on divine right, Washington’s voluntary retirement demonstrated through action that “Nothing could be a stronger endorsement of democracy than turning over power to someone else.”
So powerful this tradition of promoting the nation over self that, starting in the days prior the Civil War, Congress would regularly read aloud the Washington’s Farewell Address and document it into the official record during each session of Congress until the 1980s.
Then, over the weekend,
It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.
For Biden to acknowledge his frailty and sacrifice self in favor of his nation starkly outlines the difference between the Democratic and Republican parties today.
But Biden’s exit also scripts a compelling message for his Democratic successor and everyone else in the party. They can — they must — talk about the differences between what Biden is doing now, no matter how reluctant he was to do it, and Trump’s titanically selfish and epically destructive behavior in 2020, when he sought to stay in power by undermining the entire electoral process. They must emphasize the contrast between a president and party that finally dealt with uncomfortable truths and a president and party that have never stopped spinning unconscionable lies. While Trump and many of his fellow Republicans remain at war with reality, Biden and Democrats surrendered to it.
Leave a comment