The Elusive Art of Knowing When to Quit

As we await tomorrow’s first – and perhaps only – debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, let’s take a moment and review how we got here.

Had Joe Biden decided in 2023 to be what he said he was going to be in 2020, a “transitional president,” he would have announced 18 months before the general election that he wasn’t going to run for re-election. If that had happened, the floodgates of perspective replacements would have opened, and my guess is that Gavin Newsom – and not Kamala Harris – would be debating Donald Trump on Tuesday night.

However, President Biden’s ego and ambition got the best of him and instead of taking a long hard look in the mirror, he chose to listen to Jill and Hunter whispering sweet nothings in his ear. Fast forward to June 27th and Geritol Joe’s disastrous debate performance demonstrated to the entire world that the emperor had no clothes. From that point until he formally withdrew from the race on July 21st, Joe was a dead man walking.

With less than a month until their National Convention in Chicago, the Democrats had one choice and one choice only: anoint Kamala Harris as Joe’s heir apparent, silence any dissenting opinions, and circle the wagons around her. Once that sugarcoated coronation – which closely resembled a coup – was complete, the DNC’s job was to reinvent Harris as a moderate newcomer instead of a radical Progressive who has been in power for three-and-a-half years.

Much to the Party’s relief, the mainstream media aided and abetted in this public transformation and Ms. Harris was off to the races. However, my guess is that by mid-September, the bloom will be off that particular rose as people get to know the real Kamala behind the curtain.

Getting back to President Biden, he fell into the same trap as so many other people in power. Long story short, he hung on way too long.

The 118th Congress has been full of such examples. Sen. Dianne Feinstein died in office last year at age 90 and Rep. Bill Pascrell just passed away last month at age 87. To say that they both finished their careers as diminished caricatures of their younger selves would be a gross understatement. That leaves people like Sen. Charles Grassley (age 90), Rep. Hal Rogers (age 86), and Rep. Steny Hoyer (age 84) – all of whom took office in the same month as Ronald Reagan in 1981 – next in line.

However, advanced age isn’t the only culprit when powerful people overstay their welcome. In 2017, Sen. Bob Menendez barely escaped a prison sentence when a hung jury failed to convict him on bribery and fraud charges. Apparently, Menendez thought he was untouchable, because he continued his senate career until he was indicted a second time in 2023. Unfortunately for “Gold Bar Bob”, this time he was convicted on 16 counts of public corruption and resigned his office in disgrace.

Politicians aren’t the only ones who don’t know when it’s time to quit. I recently watched Cry Macho, a movie starring a then 91-year-old Clint Eastwood as a retired rodeo star who is hired to rescue a young boy from a Mexican cartel. I turned it off after 30 minutes or so for two reasons. First, the language was a bit much for a film rated PG-13. Second, although I love the grizzled characters Clint usually plays, he was simply too old for the role. As Rotten Tomatoes put it, Eastwood was “an awkward fit for this particular project.” In other words, Clint can still act and direct with the best of them, but his days of punching people’s lights out while fending off advances from attractive younger women are over… or at least they should be.

Then there are professional athletes, who are often as guilty as the octogenarians in congress of “playing past their prime.” Wille Mays, who was one of the greatest five-tool baseball players of all time, is sadly remembered for stumbling and falling in center field as he tried to catch a fly ball in the 1973 World Series when the “Say Hey Kid” was 42 years old.

Then there is Muhammad Ali, who went from being the three-time heavyweight champion of the world to a shell of his former self, losing three of his last four fights. His lopsided loss to Larry Holmes in 1980 was described by reporter Richie Giachetti as “awful… the worst sports event I ever had to cover.” Actor Sylvester Stallone, who portrayed prizefighter Rocky Balboa in the movies nine different times, sat ringside and said the bout was “like watching an autopsy on a man who is still alive.”

Undaunted – and against virtually everyone’s advice – the cash-strapped Ali fought one last time, losing a 10-round decision to Trevor Berbick in 1981. By then, he was already experiencing Parkinson’s symptoms such as a vocal stutter and trembling hands.

Compare and contrast Ali’s inglorious exit to that of Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio. After the 1951 season in which he batted under .300 for only the second time in his career due to debilitating bone spurs in both feet, the “Yankee Clipper” decided to hang up his spikes. The Yankees felt that the 36-year-old DiMaggio could still play effectively and offered him $100,000 to come back for the 1952 season. However, DiMaggio declined the then-lucrative offer and when asked why, one of his closest friends said, “He realized he couldn’t be Joe DiMaggio anymore.” And so, one of the most storied careers in baseball history came to a close… on Joe’s terms.

That, my friends, is the way to go out. While you are at or near the top of your game and people still want to see you play, act, or govern. The last thing you want is for your loyal fans and constituents to start whispering behind your back… and you're too arrogant, stubborn, or in denial to hear them.

As Dirty Harry said in Magnum Force, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”