Thanks for everything, Mr. President, including bowing out | Opinion 

Of course it’s not fair, Mr. President.

But if there’s one guy who needed no one to tell him how unfair life can be, it was you.

It’s not fair that you never got the credit you deserved for some of the accomplishments you mentioned in your Sunday letter bowing out of the race — lowering drug prices for seniors, expanding affordable health care, important climate legislation and more.

Yet what is at stake, as you’ve been pointing out for years, is so much bigger than any one person.

When George Washington — not a public speaker who wowed anyone, either, by the way — said he wanted to go home to Mount Vernon after two terms, at age 64, many supporters said nah, stay, because you’re essential to the project.

And he said the thing about America would be that no one would ever be essential to the project. That’s not how democracy works.

This is what separates you and your party from “I alone can fix it” Donald Trump and his “whatever you say, sir, even if you say the opposite later today” adoration society. “I alone can fix it” is what autocrats say. It never turns out to be true, either.

In your announcement, you wrote, “It has been my greatest honor to serve as your president. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of the party and my country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.”

That’s as it should be. We are so grateful for all you have done for this country, and feel sure that history will be your friend.

Unlike so many people in politics, you can look at important concrete achievements. And also unlike so many in your line of work, you have a rich, real and hard-won life outside of the arena.

We’ve seen so many people in both parties seek office for the right reasons and then stay on for the wrong ones, even when it cost them every last shred of principle or dignity, because they could no longer imagine a life without the power that from the outside really looked like a poor trade for their souls.

FDR ran for a fourth term when he was so ill that he died just short of three months into that final term. We know how much you wanted to finish what you started, too, but as painful as it was to acknowledge that you should not continue to seek another term, you put the country first.

Only we together can fix it, and you have done the right thing.

This story was originally published July 21, 2024 at 1:14 PM.