I recorded the Trump-Biden debate last night, as I wanted to go to my Tai Chi class. When I got home at 7:30, about when the debate was over, it wasn't a good sign when my wife told me, "Got a text from a friend. She says it's a train wreck."
Optimistic me thought Laurel was referring to Trump being his usual lying belligerent self. But no, it was Biden's poor performance that elicited the train wreck judgment. Which, when I watched the debate myself, I heartily agreed with.
So much so, this morning I sent this message to the White House via their contact form. I also sent a copy to Oregon Senators Merkley and Wyden, plus Representative Andrea Salinas, urging them to tell Biden he should withdraw from the presidential race.
President Biden: After last night's debate, where you performed very poorly, I urge you to end your campaign for president so someone who is much more likely to beat Trump can be selected by the Democratic convention. As a lifelong Democrat, it pains me to say this, but the truth has to be spoken: you are too old and limited to run for president again. Being 75 myself, I know how aging changes us.
This election is super important for a Democrat to win. Election of Trump would be a disaster for our country. You need to put the United States above your own understandable desire to spend another four years in the White House. This would be the patriotic thing to do and earn you a lot of credit for your commitment to saving our country from the ravages another Trump term would bring.
Please surrender your idea that you're the only Democrat who can beat Trump. You aren't. In fact, after your debate performance you are now one of the least likely Democrats to beat Trump. Clips of your stumbling over words, blank stares, and difficult to understand speech will be played incessantly in Republican campaign ads.
Do the right thing and announce that you are no longer a candidate for president. History will look kindly upon your decision to do this.
Now, today Biden said that he wouldn't be withdrawing. That's his prerogative.
But I think it's a big mistake, even bigger than the mistake Ruth Bader Ginsberg made when she hung on to her Supreme Court seat too long even though she was old and in poor health, gifting her seat to a Trump appointee. (This is why Biden deserves to be called Ruth Bader Biden.)
I'm equally concerned about two things that rose to the fore of my mind after watching Biden stumble his way through the debate, speaking rapidly and almost inaudibly, being unable to come up with coherent responses to questions, and mangling facts that he should have readily known.
One, that given about 60% of people in this country, which includes me, believe that Biden is too old (81) to run for president, his horrible debate performance will only solidify that attitude among voters, making it that much tougher to defeat Trump this November. Two, leaving aside Biden's electability, he no longer seems to be capable of performing the duties of the presidency in a competent manner.
I say this because the debate was a better reflection of what a president should be capable of than reading a speech off of a teleprompter is, as he did at the State of the Union and a rally today. At the debate Biden was confronted with questions he needed to respond to cogently, persuasively, and quickly. He also needed to react to Trump's lies and insults on the fly.
Biden failed at both tasks, even though the Biden campaign got the early debate that they wanted to shake up the presidential race, given that Biden is trailing Trump in most of the all-important swing states. He had spent about a week preparing for the debate.
Yet apparently no one told him to speak slowly, clearly, and in easily understood declarative sentences, or Biden forgot to do this. Either way, this shows that the Biden campaign was incapable of achieving the most important debate goal according to outside observers: reassure a skeptical public that Biden isn't too old to serve another four years as president.
Instead -- and this is why so many Democrats panicked during and after the debate -- Biden did the exact opposite: acting like a befuddled old man who spoke haltingly and sometimes incoherently. I was worried that Biden would make a faux pas that would lead undecided voters to decide he was senile. I never thought that his whole debate performance would be a disaster, which is what happened.
I realize that given Biden's incorrect belief that he is the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump, and his notorious stubbornness, it is very unlikely that anyone other than Biden will be the Democratic nominee. But I sure wish Biden would withdraw soon, leaving enough time for the convention to choose a replacement.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer would be my top choice. She's a competent well-spoken female politician from a must-win swing state. Most Americans want a major-party alternative to Biden and Trump. An open convention would create a lot of excitement. Many countries hold national elections in the space of a few months, so there's plenty of time for the Democrats to choose a Biden replacement.
Again, this almost certainly won't happen. It just made my wife and I feel a lot better to get our withdraw messages off to the White House this morning, since we'd been feeling depressed and powerless after watching the debate.
Today the New York Times editorial board called on Biden to withdraw from the race. I'm an online subscriber. That gift link should work for non-subscribers. Here's an excerpt from the editorial.
President Biden has repeatedly and rightfully described the stakes in this November’s presidential election as nothing less than the future of American democracy.
Donald Trump has proved himself to be a significant jeopardy to that democracy — an erratic and self-interested figure unworthy of the public trust. He systematically attempted to undermine the integrity of elections. His supporters have described, publicly, a 2025 agenda that would give him the power to carry out the most extreme of his promises and threats. If he is returned to office, he has vowed to be a different kind of president, unrestrained by the checks on power built into the American political system.
Mr. Biden has said that he is the candidate with the best chance of taking on this threat of tyranny and defeating it. His argument rests largely on the fact that he beat Mr. Trump in 2020. That is no longer a sufficient rationale for why Mr. Biden should be the Democratic nominee this year.
At Thursday’s debate, the president needed to convince the American public that he was equal to the formidable demands of the office he is seeking to hold for another term. Voters, however, cannot be expected to ignore what was instead plain to see: Mr. Biden is not the man he was four years ago.
The president appeared on Thursday night as the shadow of a great public servant. He struggled to explain what he would accomplish in a second term. He struggled to respond to Mr. Trump’s provocations. He struggled to hold Mr. Trump accountable for his lies, his failures and his chilling plans. More than once, he struggled to make it to the end of a sentence.
Mr. Biden has been an admirable president. Under his leadership, the nation has prospered and begun to address a range of long-term challenges, and the wounds ripped open by Mr. Trump have begun to heal. But the greatest public service Mr. Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election.
As it stands, the president is engaged in a reckless gamble. There are Democratic leaders better equipped to present clear, compelling and energetic alternatives to a second Trump presidency. There is no reason for the party to risk the stability and security of the country by forcing voters to choose between Mr. Trump’s deficiencies and those of Mr. Biden. It’s too big a bet to simply hope Americans will overlook or discount Mr. Biden’s age and infirmity that they see with their own eyes.
Couldn't agree more.
Comments