UPDATED: The Zhou Problem The Dems Face
The NYT is running with a major article that details all the reasons Zhou Baiden should not be occupying the White House. Basically, he's old, dithery, gets hung up on endless detail, has difficulty coming to decisions. That's the pleasant part. The less pleasant part is that he has a short fuse and a foul mouth. Well, if you decided to work for him, don't come to me for sympathy:
Beneath Joe Biden’s Folksy Demeanor, a Short Fuse and an Obsession With Details
As Mr. Biden settles into the office he has chased for more than three decades, aides say he demands hours of debate from scores of policy experts .
We've all seen the results, and the process problems are hugely aggravated by bad policy. The NYT isn't about to concede much on the policy front, but the warts of the process are all on display. They try to portray all this as management style, and no doubt that's a part of the problem. However, the portrait also very clearly suggests the effects of old age and serious character flaws--such as an inability to discern the forest for the trees, impatience at his inability that he projects on advisers, perhaps in an effort to appear in control, all of which causes him to "often snap":
Quick decision-making is not Mr. Biden’s style. ...
Those trips are often difficult for his advisers, who are peppered with sometimes obscure questions. Avoiding Mr. Biden’s ire ... frustration, often laced with profanity.
Let’s talk plain English here, he will often snap.
...
What emerges is a portrait of a president with a short fuse , who is obsessed with getting the details right — ...
On policy issues, Mr. Baiden, 78, takes days or weeks to make up his mind as he examines and second-guesses himself and others. It is a method of governing that can feel at odds with the urgency of a country still reeling from a pandemic and an economy struggling to recover. The president is also faced with a slim majority in Congress that could evaporate next year, giving him only months to enact a lasting legacy.
Those closest to him say Mr. Baiden is unwilling, or unable, to skip the routine. As a longtime adviser put it: He needs time to process the material so that he feels comfortable selling it to the public.
For all the sugar coating, the panic is almost palpable.
Zhou is 78--the NYT authors want you to know that. He needs time to process stuff, can't make up his mind--and then gets frustrated and snaps, lapsing into profanity as a substitute for coherent communication.
And the Dems look to lose Congress next year.
Even worse for Dems is this:
[Zhou] has said he expects to run for a second term ...
Talk about a red flag!
But exactly what are the alternatives for Dems as the Zhou regime slides into chaos--barely over 100 days in? Coaxing Jill and her charge out of the White House, taking their dysfunctional son with them, will be no easy task. Even if they could pull that trick off, how would the country react to such a quick switcheroo? My guess is: Very badly, especially given that the alternative then becomes Kama Sutra. Harris has fallen on her face every time she has attempted to ride her bike in public without the benefit of training wheels. Even with the training wheels, she's very shaky. Her leftist predilections don't help, and the country has noticed:
That's a train wreck waiting to happen, and Dem strategists know it. Meanwhile, GOPers have no incentive to make things easier, as they wait for 2022 to happen.
UPDATE: Yep, Don Surber says it all . What's the danger in Zhou occupying the Oval Office?
It is not that he will make some wild hare-brained decision. If he does, his aides will stop it. No, the danger is his aides will make some wild hare-brained decision, and he will be too addled of brain to stop them.
Biden is overwhelmed.
...
In February 1988, Biden suffered two brain aneurysms. 33 years later, even with medication, we may be witnessing the damage done.
A wise reader wrote me, "A note on Joe. A person close to me had two brain aneurysm surgeries. They are in reality not the same mental person as they were before. Understanding the complex is no longer possible leading to frustration and early abandonment of the task at hand. ... Joe is not really a fully functioning unit."
Everyone in the inner circle knows this. ...
The wise man said, "His permanently altered analytic state is what made him truly attractive to the money men and clinched the deal: Not understanding leads to reliance on others who then do what they please."
...
He is short of temper because he is frustrated because his mind cannot wrap itself around the subject at hand.
This is why he abruptly hangs up the phone.
This is why he cannot make a decision.
...
The story said, "Over time, the president’s staff has learned the routine. They have padded his schedule with 15-minute breaks because they know he will not finish on time. ..."
...
Now why would the Times bring this up? Are Democrats beginning to ease Biden out of the White House via the 25th Amendment? Has the matter become so obvious that even White House reporters see it?
Likely the situation is far worse than the Times let on.
25th Amendment? Be careful what you wish for. But, hey, it's not my funeral.