Joe Biden Exits the Stage
We’ll see how markets react.
Image has been just about everything when it comes to presidential politics for nearly 64 years, since John F. Kennedy beat Richard M. Nixon in one of the most closely contested and highly mythologized elections in American history.The seminal event was the September 26, 1960, debate, the first in a series of four that year. Also the first presidential debate to be televised, it aired on the radio too.
Those who watched thought Kennedy was the clear winner. Those who listened thought Nixon was the clear winner.
By 1960, an estimated 46 million households in the US had at least one TV, up from 5 million in 1950 and about 90 percent of the total.
Nixon rested up, got a close shave, and slapped on some makeup for his subsequent meetings with Kennedy, but it was too little too late.
By 1970, when Nixon finally occupied the White House, 95.5 percent of households had a TV and he had learned to connect with the “silent majority” in his inimitable way.
Joe Biden still looks great in a suit, as good as any octogenarian on the planet, but he just didn’t have the kind of time No. 37 had to adapt to a reality that changes fast these days.
And other images from his June 28 debate with Donald Trump had gone from alarming to indelible.
Today is appropriately quiet on the economic data front. On Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. ET we’ll get existing home sales figures for June from the National Association of Realtors.
On Wednesday – same time but from the US Census Bureau – we’ll get new home sales figures for June.
Thursday includes second-quarter GDP as well as jobless claims plus durable goods, trade balance, and retail and wholesale inventory data.
And on Friday it’s the Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index data for July.
That report could seal the deal on a rate cut. But it might not: There are a lot of signs the economy is re-heating.
Regardless, it reflects well on the current steward.
And, in time, Joe Biden’s announcement on Sunday that he will withdraw from the 2024 US presidential election will reflect even better on the last of the 20th century statesmen.
