And yet there were moments in which Mr. Biden veered toward the same kind of embarrassing mistakes he had made during the June 27 debate with former president Donald Trump, including a cringeworthy reference to Vice President Harris as “Vice President Trump.” That came just a few hours after Mr. Biden, in a different setting, had mixed up the names of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Russian antagonist, Vladimir Putin. (He corrected himself in that case.) Mr. Biden also boasted of having “created 2,000 jobs just last week” in reference to a jobs report that showed more than 200,000 new jobs last month. He claimed that five other presidents had worse poll numbers than his in an election year, neglecting to mention that most lost their reelection bids.
In short, Mr. Biden’s mixed reviews prolong the Democratic Party’s predicament, as evidenced by disparate statements from elected officials after the news conference. Some declared that he should leave the race, while others said the time had come to close ranks behind him. With time running out before the Democratic National Convention opens Aug. 19, Mr. Biden and his inner circle of advisers seem to be playing for time. Indeed, based on his comments Thursday, Mr. Biden seems to be somewhat oblivious to the political furor surrounding him and in denial about his frailty, personally and politically.
The president and his team argue that everyone should focus on his record of accomplishment and brightening news on both the foreign and domestic fronts: easing inflation, plummeting border crossings and reports that a Gaza cease-fire agreement is within reach. They have a point. Yet the terrible irony is that the best way to ensure that a GOP victory does not undo this progress might be to hand the reins to a successor more capable of making the case than the president himself.
Eighty-five percent of Americans now say Biden is too old to serve four more years as president, according to a Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll published this week, and 56 percent of Democrats say he should end his candidacy. His approval rating is 36 percent. Just 14 percent of adults think Mr. Biden has more of the mental sharpness it takes to effectively serve as president than Mr. Trump.
Of course, Mr. Biden’s defenders are right to insist on more attention to the dangers Mr. Trump poses. We’ve made that point many times and will continue to do so. The 78-year-old presumptive GOP nominee rambles, rants, lies and makes verbal flubs, such as confusing Nikki Haley for Nancy Pelosi. But the best way to keep Mr. Trump away from the Oval Office is by offering a strong alternative. Democratic warnings that Mr. Trump poses an existential threat to democracy cannot be squared with insistence that the best person to run against him is Mr. Biden. “The voters will not believe us about January 6 if we don’t tell the truth about June 27,” said former representative Tim Ryan (D-Ohio).
To repeat: What makes Mr. Biden’s cognitive decline especially damaging is that he and his aides have systematically failed to level with the public about it. This undercuts Democrats’ efforts to contrast their commitment to facts and science with Mr. Trump’s lies and flights of demagoguery — however worse morally those might be.
Tellingly, Mr. Trump and his top advisers appear to prefer to face Mr. Biden than a fresher face. No party as dispirited and divided as the Democratic Party is right now is likely to win the presidency — or do well down ballot. Mr. Biden has a distressingly narrow path to victory that requires winning Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, plus the single electoral vote from the congressional district that includes Omaha. This would be a challenge for even the best politicians at their peak. Mr. Biden denies he is in political trouble and rejects negative polling results. We suspect Democratic fortunes would improve with a new national ticket.
Mr. Biden said on Thursday he’s “not in this for my legacy.” Well and good. What, then, is he in it for? The only right answer is the good of the country. And those with influence and access to the president need to explain forcefully and candidly what that calls for now.
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