This is the word that immediately springs to mind to describe Joe Biden, the next president of the USA. Worthy. Should I feel a tinge of guilt as well as relief? I should perhaps be more enthusiastic. Well, there is the question of age, and the irritating sequence of running steps on his way to the podium, obviously prearranged by advisors to underline his fitness for office. Each stride displays his energy, purpose, readiness, hope… and above all, health.
I do not underestimate the importance of this short sequence of running to underline his suitability for such a demanding job, though it prompts one to hope that he has many able assistants. Particularly important is his promising choice of vice president – Jamila Harris. She is much younger, in her fifties, and said to be a competent lawyer. She has certainly looked confident and capable the few times she has appeared on international television screens. Being a newcomer to such scrutiny she might burgeon into a bright international presence. But who can outshine Donal Trump for sheer entertainment value, particularly as this nation has cried out, ‘You’re fired!’ He is sure to bounce back in some way or other. Will he ever fade into the gloom of oblivion? I somehow doubt it. Or will he just become a tragic figure hitting balls on his private golf course and, maybe, even trying to use his wealth on what loads of money cannot always buy – popularity and political power.
I still find it hard to understand how such an incompetent, narcissistic figure could be so popular after a blundering term of office. He still has, I imagine, most of his family supporting him together with core followers from his television programme. His family even provides an ever-evolving storyline with his niece, Mary Trump, writing critical articles about her uncle in the Observer newspaper. What still mystifies is how such a blustering, if entertaining, liar with no experience of government, could command so many votes from people who somehow thought that a popular entertainer could steer the richest nation on earth. Will he now desert his golf course to return to the White House and create mayhem for two months until Joe Biden’s inauguration in late January? In the time of Covid, an unrelated and entertaining drama is more than welcome. Come on, Donald, we are waiting for the next blunder! But how reassuring it is that soon he will be replaced by someone who is hardly entertaining but is, yes, worthy.
