Special Edition: Why Biden Should Step Aside (July 1, 2024)
Four days after the debate, there is little disagreement about what transpired. Joe Biden turned in a miserable performance, not just reinforcing but increasing doubts about his age and mental fitness. A good deal of this reaction was to his physical appearance and voice, but he comes off little better from a reading of the transcript. Much of what he said was incoherent. Just as bad, he failed to mount a defense of his first term, to make a case for a second term, and to score points against a vulnerable opponent.
Trump was equal parts evasive and dishonest. Both Biden and the two journalists who moderated the debate let him off the hook more often than not. But the bottom line is what it is: Trump appeared to be more vigorous and, thanks to the format that precluded his talking over Biden, presidential. Content aside, it was less difficult to imagine him in the job for four more years than Biden, something I never would have anticipated.
So the debate after the debate is focusing on whether a weakened Biden, who was already struggling in the polls, should drop out of the race. With all due respect, that is the wrong question. Or at least not the most important question. What people should be asking is whether Joe Biden should be president from January 2025 through January 2029, at which point he would be 86.
The obvious answer is no, as I expect many of his most ardent backers would privately admit. The world will not accommodate itself a president who is only on his game from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon. Nor can we afford to have a president who cannot effectively speak to and rally the American people or hold his own after traveling across multiple time zones for meetings with foreign leaders.
I say this with zero animus toward Joe Biden. To the contrary, we have had a good relationship since we met fifty years ago, when he was a young senator and I was an even younger aide to another senator. I voted for him four years ago and am glad I did. I believe he has been a good president, with his accomplishments decidedly outweighing his failures.
But it is not just that Joe Biden is not what he was. It is that he is not what he will need to be to do the job effectively for another four years. If the choice this November is between Biden and Trump, I would vote for Biden, but it would be less a vote for him than a vote against his opponent.
As the previous sentence makes clear, I oppose Donald Trump returning to the Oval Office. He poses a threat to a democracy that has prospered for close to 250 years and to a world order that has buttressed American interests and values for 75 years. He, too, shows signs of mental decline, and even beyond that, lacks the character and judgment to be entrusted with the presidency.
In short, as of now we have two candidates, neither of whom should be president in January 2025 much less four years later. The political difference is that the Republicans will never make a move against Trump…but the Democrats can move against Biden. Yes, he must release his delegates and make the August convention open, but he must be pressed to do so.
So far, Biden’s inner circle and Democratic Party notables, including former presidents, members of Congress, and major donors, seem to be rallying to his side or staying silent. Sorry, but that is irresponsible. Not to act is to act; not to speak is to speak. I appreciate that the process to find a new candidate would be messy and divisive, and there is no way of knowing how he or she would fare against the better-known Trump who enjoys the support of most Republicans.
The good news is that there are at least a dozen Democrats who have demonstrated political skills and would make a better president than Joe Biden would at this stage of his life. They might even do better than Biden would in November; as we have seen in recent elections in South Africa, India, and now France, and as we will see later this week in the UK, incumbency can be a burden.
The tenth and crowning obligation of The Bill of Obligations, my book about what good citizens need to do if this country and its democracy are to survive, is to put country before party and person. It is time for the Bidens and all of those in a position to influence them to do just that.
Check out The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens