There’s a reason why the words most associated with Joe Biden are “old” and “confused.”

Even Democrats can’t honestly tell you that they look at this senior citizen and see the leader of the free world. You know, the man who has to be told where to go when he gets confused at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Biden required assistance from a member of the tomb’s honor guard to place the large floral arrangement on a stand set on the plaza in front of the memorial honoring America’s missing and unidentified war dead.

He stepped back from the wreath and hesitated for a moment before making the sign of the cross on himself.

He backed away, turned, and took several steps away from the wreath — and then turned back and approached the officer again.

Then he backed away, turned, and took several steps away from the wreath — and then turned back and approaching the officer again.

The military member pointed a gloved hand back toward Vice President Kamala Harris, who was standing several feet away, and the president returned to his mark beside her.

Harris and Denis McDonough, Biden’s Secretary for Veterans Affairs, both appeared to be suppressing grins as the president dithered.

Republicans expressed dismay at Biden’s obvious confusion.

“God help us,” New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew told The Post.

“We have a president that doesn’t know whether he’s coming or going.”

“Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, it does,” said Rep. Darrell Issa of California.

Honest to God, I wish I could slap the smirks off the faces of Harris and McDonough in that moment. In what universe is this supposed to be funny? “Oh, there goes Joe again, can’t manage to get six feet away without getting lost, har har har!” Biden is, allegedly, the president of the United States. By their very expressions, Harris and McDonough are admitting the truth – the man is a shell, a puppet with a few strings that they can manipulate for the public, while the bureaucracy of the former Obama administration runs the White House behind the scenes. And they are ALL IN ON IT.

It’s little wonder why some Democrats are beginning to see openings. While Gavin Newsom lurks in the shadows for the next time Joe Biden can’t make it up a flight of stairs (and you better believe that Governor Hair Gel has an entire filing cabinet full of dirt to dump on Kamala Harris if she gets in his way), Dean Phillips is already running against Joe Biden in New Hampshire, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave up on toughing out a Democrat primary to run as an independent, Jill Stein is seeking to run on the Green Party ticket again – after Cornel West decided to run as an independent instead of with the Green Party, and now there’s an even bigger third party monster lurking on the horizon. Joe Manchin, who had all the leverage once upon a time in the Senate, has decided not to run again in West Virginia (because he knew that he would be absolutely trounced).

To the West Virginians who have put their trust in me and fought side by side to make our state better – it has been an honor of my life to serve you. Thank you. My statement on my political future: pic.twitter.com/dz8JuXAyTL

— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) November 9, 2023

Manchin had already been flirting with the “No Labels” group of moderate Democrat and liberal Republicans, and this announcement struck real fear into the hearts of Democrats. If Manchin chooses to run, there’s only one side of the aisle he’s taking votes from. Sure, Manchin would get some votes from Republicans, but not from the Trump base. The Biden base, which would be unlikely to vote for a Jill Stein or a Cornel West, would write off Dean Phillips for not being competitive enough, and pass over RFK Jr. for running on his name, would have a much harder time ignoring a Joe Manchin candidacy.

And the man who knows that is the man who made Joe Biden president in the first place, by making sure that Old Joe won the South Carolina primary back in 2020 – Jim Clyburn. Clyburn, who has a beef with Manchin for not falling in line with previous Democrat legislation, knows that Biden is vulnerable to a third party challenger with more moderate leanings – which is why he wrote an op-ed against the entire idea.

As Democratic whip, I sometimes wished for a magic wand to cut through the chaos and gridlock. But magic isn’t real and claiming, as some do, that a third party could save the system is also not a reality-based solution. In fact, that approach has failed to improve anything in the past, and often made matters worse.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s announcement that he won’t be seeking reelection and will be working to “mobilize the middle” of the political spectrum, has added fuel to the fire of speculation that the moderate Democrat, at times to the right of his party, will be launching a third-party presidential bid. If so, he would join the likes of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West and Jill Stein.

Clyburn then cites the history of third party candidates playing spoiler, from Teddy Roosevelt to Ross Perot to Jill Stein and Gary Johnson in 2016 – which Democrats believe cost Hillary Clinton votes in key swing states that gave the election to Trump. (The idea that Hillary Clinton was a terrible candidate never enters Clyburn’s musings.)

What all these third-party candidates had in common was frustration. They ran on the idea that neither major party’s candidate was suitable to lead. In each case, the intent to run as a protest candidate was misguided and yielded unintended consequences, at times catastrophically so. Those making the claim that there is a unique opportunity for a third party success today are equally mistaken.

I have served in Congress under five presidents and have known them all. President Joe Biden is among the finest. He has guided this nation with extraordinary skill, deep foresight and abiding decency. His fatherly demeanor and compassionate tone do not engender the attractive headlines and quotable sound bite for which many seem to yearn. But his policies and practices are yielding spectacular results for individuals, their families, and communities.

Independent observers have noted that the claims third-party proponents are making are false. History foretells that a third-party candidacy would only serve as a spoiler and, I maintain, could fundamentally endanger our fragile democracy. That is a risk we simply cannot afford to take.

Clyburn, dear readers, is panicking. He may be right that third party candidates only end up playing spoiler within the lens of history – but he sure wouldn’t be railing against it if, say, Chris Christie decided to run as an independent in the hopes of challenging Donald Trump. No, the reason Clyburn is objecting so strenously is that he knows this time, the third party problem will end up biting Democrats squarely in the ass.

He also tries pointing out Biden’s “fatherly demeanor,” “compassionate tone,” and claims “spectacular results for individuals, their families, and communities.” After we’re all done laughing and can catch our breath, let’s look at those claims.

Joe Biden has spent years covering up for his drug-abusing and women-abusing son, to the point that Joe and Jill refused to acknowledge Hunter’s daughter in Arkansas until the poll numbers started plummeting. Being obsessed with other people’s small children and sniffing them does not convey a “fatherly demeanor,” it makes the average person creeped out.

Biden also spends time invoking his son Beau’s death at the most inappropriate times, including when he’s supposedly acting as “comforter-in-chief.” There was little compassion coming from the old guy who was checking his watch during the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base. There’s little compassion when he said “no comment” about deaths in Maui (which necessitated an epic PR job by the White House to clean up). There’s little compassion coming from the guy who can’t train his own dog, creats a hostile work environment for Secret Service agents, and allegedly abused the dog himself.

And those “spectacular results” we are supposedly seeing? Inflation is eating salaries, everyone hates “Bidenomics,” we’ve had rolling shortages of items on grocery shelves due to supply chain issues that the government was slow to address, and do not forget that it took months to fix a baby formula shortage that has never fully gone back to normal.

Wow, what a track record of accomplishment! And we haven’t even touched on the Biden family business corruption scandal that keeps digging up checks written to Joe! No wonder Jim Clyburn is hitting the panic button in an attempt to stave off any talk of a third party candidate gaining traction.

Fasten your seatbelts, everyone – this ride is just getting started.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click