Knowing when to step down

Stepping back has a cost — a great cost. You don’t necessarily have to hold a position of power or a high-profile office. Sometimes even giving up our established work habits or a hard-won position can be very difficult. That is why whenever a prominent public figure chooses to step back, to take a leave of absence, he or she immediately captures public sympathy and esteem. We experienced this in a striking way on February 11, 2013, with Benedict xvi ’s historic renunciation of the Petrine ministry. We grasped it — albeit in a different sphere — just as evidently after U.S. President Joe Biden announced that he would give up his run for a second term in the White House, leaving it to his party to choose a new candidate to challenge Donald Trump (Biden did, however, indicate Vice President Kamala Harris as his preference to succeed him in the Oval Office).

As is well known, the decision had been in the air for some time, and many prominent members of the Democratic Party had urged Biden to drop his re-election bid. However, the ultimate choice rested with the tenant of the White House, and thus the very personal and certainly not easy decision not to run for another four-year term as president has to be ascribed to him. A noble choice, which several observers have noted, puts the good of the country above his personal interests. And this is beyond political assessments of his presidency, which is thus drawing to a close. In 1999, Nelson Mandela made a similar — and in some respects even stronger and more compelling — decision, when he chose not to run for a second presidential term and retired from public life. He had defeated apartheid and initiated the reconciliation of his beloved South Africa. Now it was time to leave to others to reap the sowing that had cost him 27 years in prison.

The time of politics after all can be very fruitful even in short periods: Joe Biden has “only” six months left before the handover next January 20, 2025. No longer having to make choices exclusively for the sake of the election campaign, it is to be hoped that the U.S. president will unleash bold and creative new initiatives to achieve those goals that will define his legacy in history, particularly in foreign policy, starting with ending the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

By Alessandro Gisotti