Time for Democrats, Republicans to clear the decks | GARY COSBY JR.

It is time for both political parties to clear the decks and start over as it regards presidential candidates. It has been a wearisome six or seven years defined by poor leadership, strife and division. It has been one of America's most bizarre times as it regards the presidency. Both parties need to move on and do so quickly.

Voters in the recent midterm elections did not give Donald Trump the support he was looking for. While a number of election deniers did win their races, many others were defeated in a continuing repudiation of Trump’s big lie.

This souring toward Trump points to a very serious problem for Republicans. That problem is, in two words, Donald Trump. The best thing he could possibly do for the GOP is to withdraw from the presidential race. The man who could very likely win the White House, Ron DeSantis, currently governor of Florida, is already coming under attack from Trump. This cannot help Republican chances in 2024 as political infighting will leave a sour taste in voters' mouths.

On the Democratic Party’s side of the ledger, the very best thing that Joe Biden can do for his party is to immediately announce that he will not run in 2024. It would be a big mistake to believe that the somewhat surprising performance by Democratic Party candidates in the midterms was a validation of his leadership. It was not. If anything, it was a pushback against what many swing voters saw as a frightening slide toward conservative extremism. Voters did this in 2016 as many voted for Trump as a way to counter what had become a swing too far to the left under Obama.

I have said before and will repeat it now, President Biden is, at best, a four-year placeholder for the Democrats. Many who voted for him did so more as a vote against Trump than a vote for Biden. What Americans said in the midterm elections was that we are very tired of all the foolishness.

Frankly, the leadership in each party should go to Trump and Biden and emphatically tell them that it is time to move on. Trump won’t listen. Biden might. Trump’s intransigence is wearying, and if he runs and somehow wins his party’s nomination, it won’t matter much who the Democratic Party sends against him. Even if it is the yellow dog of party folklore, that candidate will beat Trump. In fact, the only possible way for Trump to win is to pull off the most massive election fraud of all time, and I certainly would not put it past him to try.

That is precisely why the Republican Party needs to get Trump into a room and tell him the best thing he can do for the party is drop out and instead use his remaining influence to help rally support for whoever does emerge as the party’s front-runner. Trump still has a dedicated following in certain quarters of the GOP, and the party will need every vote to regain the White House.

I don’t really believe Trump is the kind of team player who would do that, but if he did it would ensure the Republican candidate has the best chance to win. He can rally the party around the nominee and use the considerable force of his personality to create some momentum for that candidate if he can be persuaded not to run himself.

As for Biden, one does begin to feel sorry for the president. It is great that a man his age can even stand the stress of the presidency. It has made young men old before, and God only knows what it does to a man who is already well on in years. Biden's age — he just turned 80 — often shows, and the Democratic Party desperately needs to tap into the younger leaders within the party if they have any expectation of hanging on to the White House.

And, to be completely honest, the time is ripe for a woman to be president. I would absolutely love to see Condoleezza Rice as the Republican Party’s nominee. I have thought for a long time that she would be a wonderful president. At 68, she might not fit the bill for being young, but I have great admiration for her. I don’t know the leading women in the Democratic Party, but Amy Klobuchar seemed a viable candidate when she ran in the past presidential primary. As long as it isn’t Hillary Clinton, I can deal with it, but if I am a never Trumper, I much more strongly say never Hillary, ever.

In fact, I’d be great if I never see another Bush, Clinton, or Trump on a ballot. I’ve definitely had enough. Nevertheless, the time for the first female president is here. I don’t know if America will see it that way, but I do hope that however it goes, we pick someone who is much younger than either Trump or Biden. This nation needs fresh visionary leadership right now as it has not needed it in my lifetime.

Gary Cosby Jr. is the photo editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Readers can email him at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Time for Democrats, Republicans to clear the decks | GARY COSBY JR.