https://www.nytimes.com/2020/
To the Editor:
It is not impossible to beat a incumbent president. The pattern of two four-year terms is merely tradition. But it's tradition going back to Geo. Washington, and we are not lightly lifted out of our rut. The few* who have beaten an incumbent are instructive:
FDR beat incumbent Hoover; FDR had a program of change
Reagan beat incumbent Carter; Reagan had a movement of change
Bill Clinton beat incumbent Bush41; Bill represented generational change
Biden brings none of this himself. "YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok" won't fix what he lacks. But if he names and empowers Warren, that might be enough.
*I suppose Woodrow Wilson and TR together beat incumbent Taft, make of that what you will.
Barry Levine
It is not impossible to beat a incumbent president. The pattern of two four-year terms is merely tradition. But it's tradition going back to Geo. Washington, and we are not lightly lifted out of our rut. The few* who have beaten an incumbent are instructive:
FDR beat incumbent Hoover; FDR had a program of change
Reagan beat incumbent Carter; Reagan had a movement of change
Bill Clinton beat incumbent Bush41; Bill represented generational change
Biden brings none of this himself. "YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok" won't fix what he lacks. But if he names and empowers Warren, that might be enough.
*I suppose Woodrow Wilson and TR together beat incumbent Taft, make of that what you will.
Barry Levine
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