Good for Gavin

Asked last Sunday if he was ruling out a run for the presidency in 2024, California Gov. Gavin Newsom shot down the idea -- again.

"You gotta be kidding," he told Kristen Welker on Sunday's "Meet the Press." "I am here celebrating the extraordinary accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration, making the case that we need to make to lift up the issues, lift up the record, drive contrast with the Republican nominee-to-be, Donald Trump? So that we can win for four more years."

"It's all idle chatter. It's all a -- you know what? That's a sideshow. I think what Democrats need to do is worry less, do more. ... I think it's a damning conversation, frankly, the other side wants us to have. And trust me, I know the mishegoss coming from the other side. I'm deeply mindful of the anger machine and all the entertainment industry out there on Fox and elsewhere. They love ginning this stuff up. At the end of the day, not only is this train left the station, but we are, we get to enjoy a record of accomplishments as we make the case in a reelection the likes of which we couldn't even have dreamt of, even as a Democrat, last century."

Gavin is right. It is a dangerous sideshow, and Democrats and the media are playing into it. The special counsel had no business critiquing the president as an elderly man with a poor memory. He isn't a doctor or a diagnostician. It set off a flurry of media coverage of the "age issue," which is all about atmospherics, ignoring what Biden has actually accomplished as president. It is being fed by ex-Democratic operatives who are desperate to be relevant and are being used by apologists for Donald Trump.

Exactly what has Biden done as president that in any way establishes that his age is affecting his performance as president? Trip on the stairs? What does that say about his ability to do the job? Exactly nothing.

Biden is not dropping out of the race. That's not happening. He has a war chest the likes of which his debt-ridden opponent cannot hope to match, a record of accomplishment and a strong economy to run on. He also has a stutter that has nothing to do with his mental acuity, and arthritis that has nothing to do with his ability to govern. Faced with a hostile and extremist-controlled Republican Party, he has managed to pass historic legislation, managed to avoid a recession, created record numbers of new jobs, taken major steps to address climate change and forged a historic compromise to address the border issues -- which Donald Trump is trying to scuttle in the House so that he can make it an issue in the November election.

So why are Democrats feeding into the narrative that discounts Biden's record as an effective president in favor of a narrative that focuses only on his age? Why are they feeding into the fantasy that he will -- and should -- drop out of a race in which he faces no opposition on the Democratic side?

Why are they elevating questions about his age over the issues about his accomplishments? The Republicans, saddled with a candidate who large segments of their own party recognize may not be qualified to be president because of his record of criminal wrongdoing, would obviously prefer to castigate Biden as too old. Forget about the fact that Trump faces 91 counts and can't remember his wife's name, confuses Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi, equates himself with Alexei Navalny and threatens our NATO allies. What does that matter compared to Biden mumbling? Why talk about the record, or the issues, when you can put Biden down for his age. It's bad enough when the Trumpers do it, but when Democrats and the media play that card, it's simply outrageous.

Gavin Newsom's name is the first one mentioned when the chattering class starts yapping about a Biden-less ticket. He's right to shoot it down as a Trumper fantasy, and those who call themselves Democrats -- or objective observers -- would do well to follow suit. It's "mishegoss," and enough is enough.

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To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.