'Joe Biden is a decent man but ....'

The chorus of prominent people publicly calling for Biden to end his campaign is growing. That list now includes actor George Clooney, who published in a devastating op-ed clearly ghost-written by Barack Obama.

These statements have become their own little mini-genre. The typically include endless strings of superlatives emphasizing Biden’s “decentness” and “goodness” and that he “hasn’t done anything wrong” except get old (that one was Chris Hayes. Hayes came up through the Nation and a shocking testament to how much cable boils your brain).

I get it. It’s a way to flatter an elderly narcissist so he does the right thing while saving face. And it’s a not-very-subtle telegraphing of the contrast to the bad, indecent Trump, who has done everything wrong, except appear frail on TV.

But cranky non-famous Lefties such as myself shout into the void that actually Biden’s team presided over what Clooney’s own wife thinks are crimes against humanity in Gaza.

To me, that sounds like saying “Palestinian lives don’t matter much.” But it exposes another rot in the two-party system. The rot that is, if someone says the right thing or acts the right way, they are good—never mind what they do. This was in stunning display during the Trump years. Suddenly, W. and Michelle Obama were going viral sharing candies. Spectacle over substance, a phenomenon that, thanks to social media, has resulted in a political environment that’s “Kennedy v. Nixon” debate in overdrive.