There is a positive precedent for what Biden did today, distinct from LBJ – which is a negative precedent (despite an almost unparalleled positive legacy, LBJ owned disastrous decisions regarding the Vietnam war). Biden, unlike LBJ, has been entirely great as president.
And that positive precedent is from another great leader: George Washington, who voluntarily declined running for a third term. Washington was 66 years old at the time. Perhaps 81 is the new 66 – and a second term is the new 3rd term.
ETA
Here’s Jon Meacham, a well-known presidential historian. He sees George Washington as an appropriate example for what Biden did, pretty much exactly as I adumbrated above but, evidently, incomprehensible to some others here:
Mr. Biden has spent a lifetime trying to do right by the nation, and he did so in the most epic of ways when he chose to end his campaign for re-election. His decision is one of the most remarkable acts of leadership in our history, an act of self-sacrifice that places him in the company of George Washington, who also stepped away from the presidency. To put something ahead of one’s immediate desires — to give, rather than to try to take — is perhaps the most difficult thing for any human being to do. And Mr. Biden has done just that.
From:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/22/opinion/joe-biden-american-hero.html?smid=url-share