you have no close friends, your family is in tatters. of your two surviving children, one is a drug addict and the other you re only living daughter has been arrested repeatedly. she blames her compulsions on the fact that you took challenge with her as a child. never been charged with doing that, but everyone around you knows that you did. at this point your wife think so little of you that she demanded you keep working despite the fact she knew perfectly well that you have dementia. in retrospect, your life has amounted to a very sad story. the saddest of all, it is almost over. weeks from now you will turn 80. this is the point in the journey where a decent man turns inward, old age is a pause that god gives us to reflect on what we have done and what we have left undone. and above all to ponder where we might be going next. if you are joe biden, you would ponder that. how could you not? but joe biden is not doing that. in the final days of the 79th year, joe biden is not
yours. the soul of the nation as he puts it. that s the topic of the prime time speech tomorrow night, don t expect to hear anything transcendent, we have not seen the transcript, but we can say that he will not say a word about the single greatest problem that our country faces which is the other lack of meaning in our international life. what exactly do we believe as americans? what is the point of all of this? fighting climate change? yelling about diversity and equity entrance rights? it can t be the point. those are fads, not ideals, and if they are all we have, we are in trouble. there is a yawning void at the center of american identity. no wonder everyone has gone crazy. don t expect joe biden to address any of that tomorrow night. he is above all a part of sin, a team player right or wrong, so he will use this time to push for partisan advantage of head of the coming election. and that alone is not surprising. that s what most politicians would do. but joe biden is different i