Biden's Decision

FRONTLINE is a prestige program, but this is not one of the stronger episodes. It's a puff piece that tries to present stubborn mediocrity Joe Biden as both a heroic underdog and a pitiful victim. The title itself is a shameless and misleading bait and switch.

"Biden's Sorry Life" would be a much better title. This documentary spends about five minutes on the man's withdrawal from the 2024 Presidential Race. There's nothing about the pressure on him from Democratic Party Bosses, and nothing about his difficult relationship with Kamala Harris. There's no mention of how the young, diverse, largely colored base of his own party felt betrayed by his nomination in the first place.

Instead we get hour after hour of weepy puff piece sob-sister stuff. The nuns were mean to him. He stuttered. His wife and child died in an accident. Naturally he evolved into a stiff-necked, bullying, close-minded fool. That's what tragedy does to a person!

Read Studs Lonigan by James T. Farrell if you want to understand the real source of Joe Biden's pathology.