Dems Who Don't Want Biden to Run in '24 Should Be Careful For What They Wish

So let's see here President Biden is about to sign the now passed Inflation Reduction Act into law and we've got a 3.5% unemployment rate yet a majority of Democratic voters and a growing number of Democratic politicians who don't want Biden to seek a second term. 

Democrats who don't want Biden to run again in 2024 should be careful for what they wish because they could end up with Donald Trump back in the White House. Because unless Trump dies he is going to be the Republican presidential nominee for a third time and lot of Americans are still prepared to vote for him and very possibly enough to for him to win despite Fox's flirtation with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. If Democrats don't want Biden to run then they run the risk of nominating someone who will won't be able to carry Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin not to mention Arizona and Georgia. 

To be sure, Biden has had his share of problems. The inflation situation isn't ideal because it reduces individual purchasing power and does increase costs for business. But inflation is an issue among all G7 countries even Japan. We would be dealing with inflation regardless right now even if America had seen fit to re-elect Trump in 2020. 

No doubt the Afghanistan withdrawal was a mess but it was Trump who saw fit to legitimize the Taliban in the first place. This left Biden with few, if any good options. COVID also has not and will never disappear. But it's not like the Biden Administration hasn't made testing and vaccines widely available. Some people simply refuse to get vaccinated. While cases continue to abound hospitalizations and deaths have been greatly reduced. Progress has been made.

Then there is the question of Biden's age. Writing in The Atlantic, Mark Leibovich asserts:

Let me put this bluntly: Joe Biden should not run for reelection in 2024. He is too old.

Biden will turn 80 on November 20. He will be 82 if and when he begins a second term. The numbers just keep getting more ridiculous from there. “It’s not the 82 that’s the problem. It’s the 86,” one swing voter said in a recent focus group, referring to the hypothetical age Biden would be at the end of that (very) hypothetical second term.

Last I checked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is 82 and is second in line in succession to the Oval Office behind only the Vice-President. Yet in all of the hoopla regarding her recent trip to Taiwan there was no reference made to her age nor has anyone seen fit to make an issue of it.

Joe Biden has never been beloved by the Democratic base in the way Barack Obama or the Clintons were. I am not surprised that nearly 95% of Democrats under 30 do not want Biden to seek another term. They didn't want him to seek a first term. I remember watching one of the Democratic presidential debates at a pub near NYU and Biden was lustily booed every time he came on the screen.  I suspect that most of those people who booed him that September night in 2019 cast a ballot for him in November 2020 albeit as a vote against Trump.

If not for the pandemic, Democrats probably would have nominated Elizabeth Warren who would have been soundly defeated by Trump. But the pandemic did happen and the Democratic Party and the nation turned to Biden. 

In so doing (with the help of a Democratic controlled Congress) President Biden brought about COVID relief, an African-American female Supreme Court judge, an infrastructure bill and now the Inflation Reduction Act. It doesn't make America a socialist utopia, but Biden made no such promise in the first place. Yet these are good things. So what good would it do the nation, let alone Democrats, to turn away from President Biden now?

Judith Durham, R.I.P.

Judith Durham, best known as the lead singer of the 1960's Australian folk-pop group The Seekers, passed away last night of chronic lung disease. She was 79.

The Seekers were the first Australian act to enjoy significant success on the North American and UK charts most notably with "I'll Never Find Another You" and "Georgy Girl" as well as "A World Of Our Own", "The Carnival is Over" and "Some Day, One Day", one of Paul Simon's earliest songs.

A classically trained pianist, Durham was also a soprano and her angelic voice made her first among equals with The Seekers' four part harmony accompanied by the six string guitar of Bruce Woodley, the 12-string guitar of Keith Potger and the double bass of Athol Guy whose Buddy Holly glasses were almost distinctive as Durham's voice. At the height of their fame, the group was bestowed with the prestigious Australian of the Year Award in 1967.

Durham would leave the group the following year to embark on a solo career. The Seekers would reunite 30 years ago after Durham survived a car crash in 1990 and the group toured periodically until 2019 even after Durham suffered a stroke in 2013. While the stroke impaired her ability to read and write, it did not impair her ability to sing. There had been plans for a 60th anniversary tour this year, but Durham's death now renders this impossible.

I leave you with The Seekers recording their breakout hit "I'll Never Find Another You" at Abbey Road Studios in 1964. R.I.P.

U.S. COVID Cases Reach 92 Million as Hospitalizations & Deaths Plateau

The United States surpassed 92 million COVID cases today. According to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, there have been 92,090,140 cases resulting in the deaths of 1,033,510 Americans representing a mortality rate of 1.1%. 

Hospitalizations have begun to plateau. According to Our World in Data, after falling below 10,000 back on April 10th hospitalizations slowly but steadily rose peaking at just over 40,000 on July 28th but have now begun to decline modestly. 

Deaths have also plateaued although it is being aptly described as "a horrible plateau" as more than 12,500 Americans died of COVID in July. This is the far cry from the more than 75,000 and 80,000 COVID deaths in December 2020 and January 2021, respectively. Nevertheless, 12,500 COVID deaths a month is not insignificant. While we are better able to manage COVID than we did 18 months ago so long as COVID exists some people are going to be hospitalized and some won't make it. 

The MBTA To Shut Down The Orange Line For 30 Days; Is The Red Line Next?

Today, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced the MBTA would be shutting down the Orange Line for 30 days starting on August 19th. 

The story broke last night a little over a week after Boston Mayor Michelle Wu had publicly stated the agency needed a "larger scale shutdown" to replace old track and modernize the signal system. 

The MBTA (originally known as the MTA as in "Charlie on the MTA") is the oldest public transit system in the United States and its age is showing. Back in June, the U.S. Federal Transit Agency put the MBTA under public scrutiny due a long series of accidents accompanied by poorly trained and overworked employees. The most significant change until today's announcement has been the replacement of rush hour service has been by a weekend schedule making for overcrowded trains.

Yet safety issues only accelerated most dramatically by the fire which took place on the Orange Line on July 21st after departing from Wellington Station. Passengers escaped from the train and one woman jumped into the Mystic River and swam to shore. 

Just a couple of days ago, passengers escaped a Worcester bound Commuter Rail train which lost power by forcing open the doors and escaping with the aid of residents in Boston's Brighton neighborhood. If that wasn't enough there have also been several instances of runaway trains including one near Braintree station on the Red Line last week.

For more than 10 years, I lived in Jamaica Plain and had to take the Orange Line. Needless to say, I am thankful I am not living in Jamaica Plain now although I had been planning to take in the JP Porchfest which is scheduled for August 20th - the day after the closure begins. 

Now that I live in Cambridge, I take the Red Line to work which is the busiest line on the MBTA and I cannot help but think a shutdown is in its future too. Currently, the Red Line has been shutdown in the evenings from 8:45 p.m. to start of service between Braintree and JFK/UMass through tomorrow and again next week Monday through Thursday evenings. Yet somehow I don't think that will be enough.

If the Red Line is shutdown for a month, let alone a week there will be utter chaos. Two weekends ago, the Red Line was shutdown between Alewife and Kendall/MIT. Under normal circumstances, I would have walked to the Kendall/MIT station, but it was 95 degrees plus outside. So I took a shuttle bus from Porter Square to Kendall/MIT and it took 45 minutes to make three stops. I can scarcely imagine how long it would take during morning and evening rush hours. It will be a disaster, but then again there might not be any other choice.

Even if the MBTA addresses the tracks and the signal issue then there are the trains themselves. While there is a new fleet of Red and Orange Line cars they recently had to be taken out of service due to battery failure. 

Then there are the stations themselves. Last September, 9 people were hospitalized when the escalator at Back Bay station on the Orange Line malfunctioned. I shudder to think how bad that would have been had it happened on the escalators at Porter Square on the Red Line which is 115 feet or the equivalent of a 12 story building. There is always one escalator out of service and last night all three of them were out of service so I had to climb that 115 feet by foot and this doesn't include a second smaller escalator which was also out of service. Needless to say, I am not 27-years old anymore.

If any agency is in need of President Biden's infrastructure bill it is the MBTA. At the state level, Governor Baker is soon expected to sign an $11 billion infrastructure bill much of which is aimed at the MBTA. But it will take years and years for such investments to bear fruit assuming the MBTA uses the infrastructure money as intended. 

Among the many reasons I wanted to return to Boston was because of its extensive public transit system. But the MBTA is literally at a crossroads and passengers will probably be stuck there for the foreseeable future. 

Vin Scully, R.I.P.

Vin Scully, who was the voice of both the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1950 to 2016, passed away on Tuesday. No cause of death has been released though his passing comes only a year after he lost his wife Sandra to ALS. He was 94.

This news takes the wind out of my sails. While I've never rooted for the Los Angeles Dodgers, I have always been a fan of Vin Scully and his style of broadcasting. Scully would invite to pull up a chair and listen to the game. He could tell a story and yet never lose focus on what was happening on the baseball diamond. Alas this has become a lost art. 

I first became familiar with Scully in the early 1980's when he joined NBC and partnered with Joe Garagiola on NBC's Game of the Week. While with NBC, Scully famously called Bill Buckner's error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets. Two years later, he was behind the mike when he called Kirk Gibson's walk-off HR off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the World Series between the Dodgers and the Oakland A's.

When I lived in Ottawa, I got access to KTLA regularly watched Dodgers games solely for the pleasure of listening to his voice. I remember the game when Chan Ho Park gave up two grand slam HRs to Fernando Tatis, Sr. in the same inning. 

Scully was behind the mike when Jackie Robinson stole home during the 1955 World Series (the only Fall Classic ever won in Brooklyn), Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, all of Sandy Koufax's five no-hitters as well as the one Clayton Kershaw threw, Hank Aaron's 715th home run and when Rick Monday saved the American flag from being burned at Dodger Stadium and I am only scratching the surface. 

It's no secret that my love of baseball has diminished over time and the passing of Vin Scully will not help matters. I shall now have to be content to keep his voice in my memory. Well, I suppose this is why we have YouTube which is as much for listening as it is for viewing. 

Case in point was when he threw out the first pitch prior to Game 2 of the 2017 World Series between the Dodgers and Houston Astros. Honestly, that crowd would not have minded if he had thrown a complete game. R.I.P.

Soto to San Diego, Phillies Get Thor & Merrifield Will Be Vaccinated in Toronto et al

The MLB trade deadline has come and gone. As expected, the Washington Nationals parted ways with outfielder Juan Soto. Last month, Soto declined a 15-year $440 million contract extension. The Nats traded the 23-year old Dominican born Soto to the San Diego Padres along with first baseman Josh Bell in exchange for first baseman Luke Voit, pitcher MacKenzie Gore and two minor leaguers. Soto and Bell join a lineup which Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis, Jr., who has been injured all season. That is a fearsome foursome. 

The package was initially going to include Eric Hosmer, but Hosmer nixed being involved in the deal. Instead, the Padres shipped Hosmer up to Boston.

After a half season in Anaheim, Noah Syndergaard returns to the NL East, but in a Phillies uniform where he can reminisce about his Mets days with Zack Wheeler while competing for a NL Wild Card berth. The Phillies have also reunited with David Robertson acquiring the veteran reliever from the Chicago Cubs. 

Perhaps the strangest trade of all is the Toronto Blue Jays acquisition of second baseman/outfielder Whit Merrifield from the Kansas City Royals. Merrifield was among 10 players who did not make the Royals' road trip to Toronto last month because he was unvaccinated. He upended Royals fans when he said he would get vaccinated for a contender who ended up playing against the Blue Jays. Well, now he's going to Toronto and now he's going to get vaccinated. 

No one (and I mean no one) is happier to leave New York than Joey Gallo who was been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers after struggling mightily in The Bronx since being acquired from the Texas Rangers during last year's trade deadline. I would not be surprised if Gallo loves L.A.

The Yankees have added outfielder Harrison Bader from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for pitcher Jordan Montgomery. It is a curious acquisition for the Yankees given Bader has plantar fasciitis in his right foot and hasn't played since late June. 

The Minnesota Twins have added a trio of pitchers - starting pitcher Tyler Mahle from the Cincinnati Reds, reliever Michael Fulmer from the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles closer Jorge Lopez. I really feel sorry for Orioles fans. The team has played beyond expectations and the Angelos family rewards them by trading away Trey Mancini to Houston and now Lopez who is having a breakout season. 

Lopez is not the only closer who was dealt though. The Los Angeles Angels dealt their closer Raisel Iglesias (who they lured away from the Cincinnati Reds in the off-season) to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Jesse Chavez and southpaw Tucker Davidson. 

Of course, there will be other deals but those will need to go through waivers. Although there was a lot of movement today all eyes will be on Juan Soto in San Diego given that Soto powered his way to a World Series ring for Washington in 2019 - their first in franchise history. The Padres are looking for their first World Series title and, with respect to Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis, Jr., Soto is now their franchise player.

Red Sox & Orioles Become Sellers at Trade Deadline to Astros Benefit

Although both the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox are within striking distance of the third AL Wild Card berth, both teams have decided to become sellers at the trade deadline and the chief beneficiary is the Houston Astros.

The O's traded beloved DH Trey Mancini to the Astros. Mancini had spent his entire professional career in Baltimore and won the hearts of baseball fans everywhere as he battled back from cancer en route to becoming AL Comeback Player of the Year last season. Orioles fans aren't especially surprised as Camden Yards gave Mancini a rousing ovation last week after he hit an inside the park HR in what proved to be his final at bat as an Oriole. This deal also involved the Tampa Bay Rays who received outfielder Jose Siri from the Astros.

The Astros also acquired catcher Christian Vazquez from the Boston Red Sox. As it happens, the Red Sox are playing the Astros in Houston so Vazquez only had to change clubhouses. The Red Sox also dealt reliever Jake Diekman to the Chicago White Sox for backup catcher Reese McGuire while also acquiring outfielder Tommy Pham from the Cincinnati Reds. Pham's biggest hit this season was when he struck San Francisco Giants outfielder Joc Pederson over fantasy football. 

Although perhaps the most peculiar trade was between the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres who exchanged closers Josh Hader and Taylor Rogers. The Brewers lead the NL Central while the Padres have the second NL Wild Card berth. I don't think this trade makes either team better at least in the short term although the Brewers did get some prospects out of it. 

The New York Yankees added pitching depth by acquiring starting pitcher Frankie Montas and reliever Lou Trivino from the Oakland A's while also adding submariner Scott Effross from the Chicago Cubs. 

The St. Louis Cardinals have reportedly acquired veteran southpaw Jose Quintana and reliever Chris Stratton from the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates. The Detroit Tigers have sent veteran outfielder Robbie Grossman to the Atlanta Braves. The Braves also acquired starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi from the Astros in exchange for reliever Will Smith while reuniting with utility player Ehire Adrianza plucking him from the Washington Nationals.

With a little over 18 hours left in the MLB trade deadline, all eyes are on Washington as Juan Soto is very likely to be dealt along with Josh Bell and perhaps a cast of thousands. We shall see what stages they next appear on tomorrow evening.