Former President Barack Obama, who must wake up every morning wondering what the hell happened, was quoted in The New York Times the other day on the subject of Joe Biden. According to Mr. Obama, our new president is now “finishing” what the Obama presidency started.

That charmingly self-regarding thought, aside from being dead wrong, gives Mr. Obama too much centrality in the centuries-long drama of American politics. Perhaps Mr. Biden sees himself as finishing what Lyndon Johnson started. Perhaps he sees himself as finishing what Franklin Roosevelt started. Perhaps he sees himself as not finishing anything, but rather as just another foot soldier in the classic American slog towards the future, shoulder to shoulder with Dwight Eisenhower, Dick Nixon and Mary Tyler Moore. Perhaps he is just trying to do a day’s work.

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