Neither view fully grasps the depth of the mess Democrats, and the country, are in. Biden defenders underestimate the potential long-term damage of the president’s debate performance, which was designed to show that the 81-year-old was up to the job and did just the opposite. But those who’d like to hurtle full speed ahead to an open convention vastly underestimate how hard it will be to pull off.
The voices most certain that Biden should leave the race include many who said long ago that Biden should not to run again. They feel vindication. Alas for Biden, they have reason to. The people most shocked by Thursday (and I’m one of them) were those who felt he was up for one more campaign and had proven his mettle in his State of the Union address and other outings.
It turned out that a debate is not like a prepared speech or the occasional interview. Biden had trouble landing even easy punches or executing well-prepared attack lines coherently. Heck, sometimes he struggled to finish sentences. This was not like the debate losses of former presidents Barack Obama or George W. Bush.
The cascade of demands on Biden to hang it up was thus inevitable, and his team would be foolish to resort to catcalls against hand wringers and nervous nellies. People cannot unsee what they have already seen. Biden needs to own just how damaging that performance was.
But romanticizing a magical solution to the problem the party faces is a mistake, too. If Biden withdrew, the party would face two core decisions: first, whether to nominate Vice President Harris, and if not, whom it should pick from a list of hopefuls who could easily run to a dozen alternatives.
Unless Harris decided to stay on as the vice-presidential candidate, the up-or-down decision on her future would be deeply divisive. And a free-for-all compressed into a short period would limit the amount of vetting a nominee would go through and could reopen ideological conflicts that Biden was largely able to pacify. (These are Democrats, after all.) Sure, it could be exciting. It could also be chaotic.
It also doesn’t help Democrats to say that it’s Republicans who should look at Trump’s debate performance — his cascade of blatant lies, his refusal to answer questions, his plain lack of patriotism — and demand that he withdraw. Of course they should. But they won’t. The point is to defeat Trump.
So what should be done? I’m with those saying Biden needs a painful reckoning with himself over whether his best contribution to history now is to soldier on, or to help a leader from the next generation see his fight for the soul of America though. Biden has a formidable legacy rooted in a presidency characterized by responsibility, decency and real accomplishment. If his staying in the race allows Trump back into power, Biden will destroy that legacy.
But with Biden apparently determined to tough it out — the campaign put out a list of politicians reaffirming their support Saturday afternoon — the president’s future will be settled by the polls. If they show the debate caused Biden real damage, pressure on him to drop out will move from private alarm to public demands. If the numbers don’t change much, he’ll likely get through this.
If he does, he owes those who support him a clear strategy for undoing Thursday’s damage. He needs to do a series of televised interviews, including many in less than friendly settings. He’ll have to step up his campaign appearances, offering more speeches along the lines of his energetic performance in North Carolina on Friday.
He should make a major commitment to doing all he can to strengthen the campaigns of Democratic House and Senate candidates, the most vulnerable of whom have more reason than anyone to worry about the electoral impact of a weakened Biden. He needs to use last week’s demonstration of the Supreme Court’s radical right-wing activism to underscore the long-term impact of the choices voters will be making this November. If Democrats lose both the Senate and the White House, the damage to the judiciary over a generation will be catastrophic.
Above all, Biden and those around him need to understand that this is not about them, their touchiness over who has underestimated the president in the past or who is loyal and disloyal. Every decision he makes from now on, including whether he remains in the contest, must prove he means what he says about the grave danger Trump poses to our democracy. His legacy depends upon it, and the country needs to be able to depend upon him.
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