Candidate or Commander-In-Chief?

Please Stop Confusing Campaigning With Administrating

Ezra Klein (This Isn’t All Joe Biden’s Fault) repeatedly conflates and confuses, if not tactically then easily and chronically as is the state of discourse these days, especially in the press.

Not only is Biden (the candidate) NOT the embodiment of Democracy, but to cast the Democrat party (apparently existing only as a campaign entity here) as nefariously wielding the specter of Fascism as a weaponized cudgel of consequence is as fumbling as nervous speech and much more clueless.

Fascism IS the threat, as real as any other (finite to the tune of a 20 year manifested stay--it's NOT elected away once in place) including climate change (finite to the tune of humanity’s end).

Many a pundit seems to do what's done here—muddy the distinction between a candidacy and an administration. That we've so much riding on everything from 90 second sound bytes to 90 minute displays of performative impressionism is the true tragedy. A vast majority of the citizenry know next to nothing of the inner-workings of the government, the multi-branch processes--domestically as well as the making and implementing of foreign policy (even less).

Is the President "not one person" but "part of a Party"? Yes, when campaigning. He's also, if elected, one of a huge coalition of players, thinkers, legislators, advocates, advisors, diplomats within the Executive branch of the government and beyond, tasked with confronting domestic and international challenges of every sort and endeavoring toward lasting results that affect lives profoundly. That's where the performance truly matters, and where it’s under-inspected presently and under-recalled in retrospect to the last administration’s negligence and criminal malfeasance. This world is the least seen, least appreciated aspect of Biden's or any other administration.

The press is complicit in the perpetuation of this blind spot. It thrives on universal blurring. The colors run on a watercolor cartoon.