This afternoon the monthly Salon discussion group that my wife and I are part of gathered in a member's living room. Right away, a topic of conversation sprang up, because it was at the top of everyone's mind.
Should President Biden withdraw from the presidential race? We spent about an hour talking about this. The discussion was vigorous. Everybody had something to say about the question. And in the end there was a clear consensus.
All eleven of us felt that Biden should withdraw.
Everybody in the group is a Democrat, though naturally we disagree about many political subjects. The familiar saying about getting Democrats to agree about something is like herding cats -- absolutely true. But when it came to Biden getting out of the presidential race, we were all in agreement.
Joe has to go.
This image expressed our feeling. We all deeply appreciate what Biden has accomplished since he became president, as well as what he's done in his lengthy career in politics as vice-president and senator.
However, it was clear to us that while there are risks involved in Biden withdrawing and another Democrat taking his place, at least then we'd have a better chance of defeating Trump. With Biden at the top of the ticket, our group is convinced that Trump has a much easier path to victory.
Biden has been wrongly claiming that it is only Democratic "elites" that want him to withdraw. Not true. He would have realized that if he'd been able to see our discussion today. We're all ordinary Democrats who are super-concerned about Trump getting another four years to wreak havoc on our democracy.
We talked quite a bit about Trump's appeal. There was general agreement that human nature favors strong leaders. After all, that's how leadership works in most of the animal kingdom, and we humans obviously are animals -- just animals with highly evolved brains.
For all of Trump's failings, and they are way too many to enumerate, he does project an aura of strength and confidence. Biden doesn't. I noted to the group that some political observers feel it isn't fair that Biden only has a 38% approval rating, given all that he has accomplished during his time as president.
But voters aren't machines that calculate the various accomplishments of Biden and Trump, then spit out an answer as to who is most worthy to be president. Voters base their like or dislike of a candidate on all kinds of factors, many of them emotional, irrational, and personal.
And that's where Biden falls short.
We spoke about how much excitement and enthusiasm there would be among Democrats if someone other than Biden, someone younger and more energetic, replaced him. The malaise among Democrats would vanish in an instant, aside from the comparatively few Biden die-hards who would be sad to see him go.
The rest of us, who are a clear majority of the Democratic electorate, would be thrilled. We talked about how even if the replacement candidate lost to Trump this November, at least we'd feel good that the Democratic Party did its best to defeat Trump, rather than sticking with Biden, a highly unpopular candidate.
We didn't agree on who should replace Biden, should he decide to withdraw. I argued that Kamala Harris was the most obvious candidate. Some agreed, while others felt that Gavin Newsom or Pete Buttigieg would be a better choice. One person liked Secretary of State Blinken.
Regardless, the prospect of anyone other than Biden facing off against Trump filled us with optimism, while the prospect of Biden hanging on and refusing to withdraw was depressing.
Along that line, I shared a metaphor I'd heard Chris Hayes discuss with a guest on his MSNBC show. I said that it was about a pitcher "losing his stuff" after doing well for a number of innings. Then he starts giving up hits and walks.
The manager goes out to the mound and talks things over with the pitcher. Then he motions to the bullpen to bring in a relief pitcher. The starting pitcher doesn't get to decide if he stays in the game. Most pitchers believe they're just going through a rough spot, and can get the next batters out.
This is akin to Biden saying in a recent interview, after being asked who he relies on to tell him whether he should stay in the race, "Me." I found that disturbing. Biden isn't qualified to assess his chance of beating Trump, just as a starting pitcher isn't qualified to decide whether he stays in the game.
Two-thirds of Democrats want Biden to withdraw. Everyone in our group felt that way. A majority of Democrats should be the "manager" who decides whether Biden stays in the race, not Biden -- though obviously he has to be the one to say, "I'm withdrawing."
May that happen soon, for the good of our democracy, which hinges on defeating Trump.
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