A Critical Lesson For President Biden From 1968
President Biden is presiding over a moment we have seen before and he is not learning its lesson.
Thursday, February 29, at least 117 Palestinians were killed and 750 wounded when Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of thousands converging on a rare aid convoy in the Gaza City. Palestinian reporter Bisan Owda reported that hungry northern Gazans’ blood was mixed in with the flour as both laid limp on the ground beside aid trucks. She dubbed the event The Flour Massacre. Israel claimed the deaths occurred from crushing crowds, but the UN and medical officials reported that they found many gun-shot wounds among the dead and wounded.
The Flour Massacre pushed the Palestinian death toll over 30,000 one month after the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ruled that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in response to brutal attack by Hamas on October 7, which killed 1200 Israelis and claimed 246 hostages held in Gaza. With Israel’s genocidal intentions clarified by the massacre, Americans’ tolerance of U.S. complicity is evaporating fast. As of the day of the Massacre, 71 members of Congress had called for a permanent cease fire.
March 31, 1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson sat before a small table-top podium and announced he would not seek re-election to the presidency of the United States of America. LBJ had presided over a Vietnam War American death-toll that multiplied 100 times since the day he took office in 1963. With the Tet offensive raging, the death-toll on a vertical trajectory, and the photograph of a South Vietnamese soldier’s execution of a Viet Cong officer plastered across newspapers worldwide, the American public was beginning to rage against the war. Rather than run, Johnson vowed to use every remaining day in office to end the war. LBJ’s plan was ultimately thwarted by his opponent, Nixon, who intervened in a back room deal that prevented the war from coming to an end. With the war raging on election day, the Democratic candidate, Hubert Humphrey, lost by 500,000 votes and Nixon claimed the Oval office.
As the Biden Administration grips the wheel of a war careening off a cliff, the situation is beginning to look a lot like Vietnam. Even in light of Israel’s clarified genocidal intent, America stood alone for the third time in five months—the only nation to block a UN Security Council demand for a ceasefire. Meanwhile, more than 576,000 Gazans face imminent famine. The Biden Administration has repeatedly complained that “too many Gazans are dying” and “not enough aid is getting in,” but the Administration has also boasted negotiating for more aid to be allowed in, but they have also refused to condition American military aid on Israel’s cessation of collective punishment in Gaza.
Last week, the U.S. airdropped 38,000 meals into northern Gaza and celebrated the negotiation of a possible 6-week pause to the genocide. A brief review of social media comments reveals the Democratic base is not buying it. As Israel trounces International law and drags America’s global reputation through the gutter, Americans are beginning to rage against this war. A recent New York Times Poll says Biden would lose to Trump by 4 points if the election was held today.
Pundits continue to ponder why voters aren’t giving Biden his due desserts for his long list of legislative wins. I have four words in response: It’s the genocide, stupid.
Do you think Johnson didn’t have a long list of legislative wins that he could have run on in 1968? Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Medicare and Medicaid Act, the Immigration Act, as well as Head Start and Block grants! Johnson was kicking domestic ass and taking names before the 1967 escalation of the Vietnam War. But when the public soured on the war, nothing could help him.
And the stakes are higher for Biden. Tricky Dick embarrassed himself and dragged the presidency through the mud, but government institutions survived and democracy prevailed. Biden’s opponent, Donald Trump, has vowed to dismantle democracy all together. Have you read the Project 2025 Playbook? 2024 could be America’s last democratic election.
Under this pressure and with these echoes of ‘68, it would be easy for Biden to take a surface-level lesson from Johnson’s decision to bow out: Don’t do it. Bowing out is too risky and would spell disaster in November. But, that would be the wrong lesson.
Here’s the right one: End the war. Now.
There is one key difference between Biden and Johnson’s conundrum: Vietnam was Johnson’s war, aided by the South Vietnamese. Gaza is Netanyahu’s war, aided by the U.S.. Biden controls the money, but it’s not his war. The recent massacre gives Biden the opportunity he needs to pull American support and wash his hands of it.
But, Biden is focused on his long-term goal—a two-state solution. It is a worthy goal. Most experts agree with the mantra of the Standing Together Movement, a coalition of Israeli Jews and Palestinians that says: “Both Jewish people and Palestinians are going to stay on this land. No one is going anywhere.” Recognizing that domination and terror are not sustainable solutions. Standing Together advocates for a shared future on the land. Biden’s goal to be the president that realizes that shared solution, is laudable. But he is botching it, bad.
Biden should not place his hope in negotiations with Netanyahu. Bibi sabotaged the two-state solution during the Oslo Accords. He supported Hamas, to create conditions where a two-state solution was politically unthinkable. He recently rebuffed Biden’s call for a two-state solution. Plus, Bibi needs this war for his own political survival. Each day bombs drop accountability for his negligence on October 7 is held at bay another day. Netanyahu is holding onto his office by a shoestring. That shoestring is directly attached to this war. If Biden wants a two-state solution, he would do better to end the war and allow the Israeli people to elect new leadership that values democracy.
Biden must learn the right lesson from 1968: End the war. End it. Now. For the sake of Palestinians’ right to live free, for the sake of Israel’s future, for the sake of America’s standing in the world, for the sake of the 2024 election and for the sake of democracy Biden must condition Israel’s aid on its cessation of all collective punishment. Biden, like any presidential candidate, must earn American votes. The base-line for his base is simple: Don’t be party to genocide. End it. Then we can talk.
Originally Published on Freedom Road.
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President and founder of FreedomRoad.us, Lisa Sharon Harper is a writer, podcaster and public theologian. Lisa is author of critically acclaimed book, Fortune: How Race Broke My Family And The World—And How To Repair It All.
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