Say it ain’t so, Joe! Classified documents at your old offices and in your home? It was all great fun when it was just Trump appearing to hoard secret government files for who knows what reason, but you, too? Ugh. You’ve got some splainin’ to do. While it may turn out that there is nothing nefarious about the whereabouts of these documents - just an oopsie - the optics are terrible and will provide great fodder for House investigations galore as Kevin McCarthy leans further and further right to appease the MAGA Truculent Twenty who squeezed so many concessions before finally voting to give him his preciousssss (sic) House Leader gavel. Are we ready for this? Coming soon! The Hunter Biden Investigations! and its sequel, the Biden Papers! It’s time to read the tea leaves and to take a page out of Nancy Pelosi’s book. Biden has accomplished much these first two years: Infrastructure, expanding ACA, the Safer Community Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, to name a few. The next two years do not bode well for furthering a Democratic agenda. House Republican-fomented gridlock and government shutdowns loom. Biden has been the good soldier, doing his best to champion left and centrist ideals, but there is no question that this discovery of wayward government papers is problematic and will tarnish his legacy and any future candidacy. The damage is done. As 2024 nears, it is time for a fresh face, new blood, a clean slate. President Biden, do not run for President in 2024. It’s okay to hand off the baton, pass the torch. It’s okay to step away, as Nancy Pelosi so wisely chose to do. It’s time for youth. It’s time to bring Gens X, Y and Z (and soon, Alpha?) into the fold, to listen and to empower their voices. Their reality is very different from that of the octa- and septa-genarian politicians who currently hold sway - this is their world; a world of pestilence and war, of divisiveness and denial. They can change that. Their voices are the hope for our future. They should have a say, they should have the power to do something real about it. Surely there are younger Democratic hopefuls out there with the vision, desire, integrity, and gumption to serve. We need these new, younger, plugged-in, progressive voices to take the lead. Joe Biden should take his well-earned rest and give his blessing to the next generations. The status should not remain quo. It’s time to let it go.