July 1, 2024
By Kam Zarrabi

The severe thunderstorm last Thursday afternoon knocked out our electricity for a few hours, which forced me to jump in the car and start searching for a diner with its light on to grab something to eat before the much anticipated and unprecedented presidential debate was to be aired on CNN.

Power was restored just before the event, while the usual panel of highfaluting media experts was still at it telling the viewers what to expect to see. I wasn't really surprised to see what the opening segment was about to reveal.

I always believed that the strongest attribute for an aging national leader would be in acknowledging his declining mental acuity and cognitive abilities and, to compensate for that by increasingly relying on the advice of experienced staff and cabinet members in formulation major decisions. I was pretty confident that Joe Biden, unlike his challenger who believes he is God incarnate and needs no one's advice, understood that.

What I saw was a robotic old machine approaching, looking rather unsure as to what lay ahead. Just as expected, his performance was nothing short of a disaster: he sounded weak and often incoherent. For a second, I thought his handlers, his staff and advisers had deliberately sabotaged his appearance by not lubricating the rusty machine's joints and recharging his batteries before sending him on the debate stage. Or, perhaps, he had one too many glasses of Cabernet with his early dinner before his appearance! Maybe, I thought, they were attempting to make old Joe succumb to the fact that it was time to throw in the towel.

That thought did actually make sense to me. From the beginning of his presidency, it must have been clear to the DNC that Biden was declining physically and mentally at a faster rate than expected for a man his age. I thought the decision to keep the quite capable Kamala Harris in the shadows was to make her boss appear more in control of the presidential duties and responsibilities. However, the reality made its public appearance soon enough. Fortunately, in a meaningful democracy, one man is never truly the ultimate decider in matters of great consequence to the nation. Sure, the president's signature appears on all executive orders, but decisions are the result of collaboration of many who sit in the control room of the government; and that's the way it should be. In contrast, in some, but not all, autocratic dictatorships, one charismatic leader with strong cult following can impose his will on entire populations, and remain immune against accountability or prosecution, at least until another more ruthless dictator takes his place.

President Biden's age and cognitive impairment issues have, nevertheless, become of great concern as the questions of his competitiveness against his rival looms ever bigger in the voting public's minds.

His challenger walked on the stage fully prepared, meaning no preparations was actually needed! A snake-oil salesman, a con artist and cult leader knows how to play things to his personal advantage. We saw the parade of those embarrassingly shameless sycophants a few days ago, each trying to appeal to El Duce's mega- [or MAGA] -maniacal ego as the best suited to be his TP carrier. But the shrewd conman knows who is faking it to rise in ranks in a potential Republican administration, and who might be genuinely subservient enough to offer him tender care with fluffy TPs at hand. I am talking about high profile senators, congressmen and mayors, White and some Black, who might ultimately claim that they were humiliating themselves in order to serve their beloved nation's best interests: Sure!!

In the time allotted to him he used his limited vocabulary of adjectives and phrases to repeat self-aggrandizing lies and distortions, seldom responding to the moderator's questions: he knew he didn't have to! He acted as a TV reality Show's host who was the man in charge, and not the so-called moderators of the event, who were afraid to interrupt his diatribes when he was going off the track.

A true legend in his own mind, his strength lies, no doubt, in knowing that no matter what he says or does will not diminish his popularity among his supporters, whose depth of knowledge of geopolitics, economic theory, or sociology is not much above that of the average tadpole! Oh, don't get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with tadpoles. In their muddy pools where they can only see and sense their immediate surroundings, what matters is locating food and surviving from moment to moment: do they really need to know more than that?

The true strength of a successful cult leader is that he doesn't have any weaknesses that his opposition could possibly exploit. The sad truth is that the couple of dozen ultrasophisticated panelists appearing on CNN or MSNBC, who offer advice as to how to strategize to overcome the Democratic Party's deficit in the upcoming elections, do not represent the voting public; yes, the tadpoles who are not Harvard, Yale or Princeton graduates! To someone born and raised in some Plains State, it is never convincing enough to claim that science says Earth is not flat, when he can see with his own two eyes that it is as flat as can be whichever direction he looks: And he actually does have the right to vote!

While all this seems sickeningly hopeless, please remember: In a true democracy, society's tadpoles have just as much right to be heard and served by the ruling establishments as do those tiny percentages of elitists whose farts don't smell!

In my personal opinion, we shouldn't worry about the fate of our nation no matter who or which political party rises on top. In spite of all the disheartening news and events, from women's rights issues, immigration problems and inflation, to Social Security, affordable housing and health care system, this is still the best place to live on this planet. This Ship of State is not likely to break up and sink no matter who is at the helm, not even an average chimpanzee.

But, folks, if you are a habitual worrier, we do have something of real concern to worry about! Our astrophysicists have been telling us that our beloved sun is going to run out of its power to convert its hydrogen into helium in roughly four-billion years, when it will grow into a Red Giant and expand to engulf our earth and other beautiful planets in its incinerating heat. So, what are we going to do then?! So, should I go ahead and vote in the upcoming election? Hmmm; let me think about it!