Thomas Friedman: My first thought when I heard Joe Biden’s news
Joe Biden called me out of the blue last month Something was on his mind It was a scarce weeks before he went in for tests on the small nodule uncovered on his prostate and received the tough evaluation that was circulated publicly Sunday Mr President what s up I demanded as I stepped outside of a D C restaurant to hear better leaving my family at the dinner table What was up He longed to talk about the future of the NATO alliance He recounted me he was planning to give a speech to remind people how incredibly valuable the Atlantic alliance has been over decades to preserve world peace and prosperity and how crazy it was to think that the Trump administration and its congressional allies would menace current it up He requested to bat around specific ideas He would call a limited days later he stated but we never had the follow up because I suspect cancer got in the way I am not going to get into the argument nowadays over whether Biden should have dropped out earlier from the presidential race This instant after his disastrous performance in the debate with Donald Trump I urged him to do so then but with a heavy heart The heavy heart was not just because we have known each other since we traveled together to Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul in It is because Biden has an unbreakable gut connection to how critical America is to the world one that I deeply share Biden understands something that even if he cannot express it as well as he and we would inevitably like is embedded deep in his soul That the world is the way the world has been since which is to say one of the majority relatively peaceful and prosperous eras in history for more people on the planet than ever because America was the way America was That America is an America committed to the rule of law at home and a universal mission abroad to constantly work within our means to make the world a freer and more democratic and more decent and healthier place for more people So what I notified my family and friends when they demanded me what Biden had commented when he called was this Joe Biden even at his most of inarticulate and even with his voice weakened by age has more gut commitment to and understanding of what America at its best means to the world and who our real friends are and must invariably be than every member of the Trump administration combined We will miss his gut when it s gone So Mr President I am wishing you a speedy recovery No matter how soft your voice or unstable your gait or weak your heart you have the gut instincts of a healthy -year-old when it comes to articulating what America s mission in the world must dependably be We need to hear that the world demands to hear that now more than ever Thomas Friedman writes a column for the New York Times Related Articles Zeynep Tufekci The day Grok lost its mind Lynne Peeples On autism and vaccines there are lies damned lies and statistics Kelly McKinney The power blackout in Spain and Portugal wasn t a fluke It was the future Lisa Jarvis FDA appointee is a drug critic with a lot to prove Michael Swaine Commerce wars vulnerability military crises
