I am a Democrat by default. I can’t be a Republican because of Donald Trump. Donald Trump insults my intelligence. He tells the most blatant and ridiculous lies. He says stupid and cruel things as easy as he breathes. Joe Biden has been an honorable public servant, but he is a politician and part of the job description is to spin—to invent plausible explanations for mistakes made. (The best, least-used explanation is: I made a mistake.) But Biden’s campaign and, sadly, the President himself have wandered into Trumpland this past week: They are insulting our intelligence. Their attempts to dismiss Biden’s debate performance are pathetic. Their “bedwetter” campaign against those who think he should withdraw from the race is offensive. Their attempts to portray the debate as a one-off—he had a cold, he was jet-lagged, he was prepped badly—are worse than unconvincing. Everyone knows what they saw last week—and it looked very much like an aging man who’d lost his fastball or worse, an aging man debilitated by a wasting disease.
It’s pretty clear that the ultimate can of worms—choose your metaphor; they’re all bad—has been opened now. The topic that dare not speak its name has been broached. Democrats are talking—obsessively, in private—about replacing Biden. I suspect that the calls for the President to stand down will only increase in the coming days, especially from members of Congress who fear for their political lives. I don’t see how he’ll survive this. His campaign has taken a torpedo amidships. It is sinking.
There will be arguments that the polls haven’t changed that much as a result of the debate. I didn’t expect they would; this election is pretty well baked. But that’s not the point: The Biden folks were hoping the debate would move the polls in his direction, would prove that age—the issue that worried voters most—shouldn’t be a concern. It did the opposite. And the most meaningful question in these polls is about Biden’s fitness for office. According to the CNN poll, 75% of Democrats would rather have another candidate face Trump this year. Also, according to the CNN poll, Kamala Harris is running a couple of points better than Biden against Agent Orange—a meaningless result, within the margin of error. BUT….
Let me fearlessly predict that Kamala Harris is about to have a moment. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina dropped a huge Kamala hint yesterday. Others of the commentariat are suddenly finding virtue in the heretofore unimpressive Vice President. And a case for Kamala can be made: Trump needs to be prosecuted relentlessly for the next four months and Harris is a relentless prosecutor. It is her strongest attribute as a candidate. You may remember her sharp, and very tough, grilling of Brett Kavanaugh and William Barr as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committtee. You’ll be seeing those clips a lot in the coming weeks.
The problem with Harris is that she can seem wobbly when not prosecuting, a combination of lack of confidence and trying too hard to please—as she did at the BET Awards over the weekend, when she lapsed into girl talk with Taraji P. Henson. To which I say: Girl, you are a woman now. If you want to be President—at any point—you’re going to have to beef up the gravitas part of your portfolio. As my podcast partner John Ellis has suggested, Admiral William McRaven might be an attractive running mate, bolstering the ticket’s foreign policy and defense credentials.
Harris could be a strong candidate, but she should have to prove it before the Dems buy in. Again, I believe that a well-produced presidential contest—a serious reality TV show—would capture the public imagination this summer. The delegates to the Democratic convention could be empowered to select six or eight candidates to compete. Harris would have a head start; she’d be the frontrunner, but would have to show herself worthy.
Again, all this depends on Biden stepping aside. I wasn’t so sure, at first, that he would. But his debate performance is not going to go away; it is a sucking wound, crippling any chance for a vibrant, aggressive campaign. He will be playing defense the rest of the way. He may summon the energy to seem strong in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, but remember: This is for the next four years. Ronald Reagan was in marked decline—the beginnings of Alzheimers, perhaps—during the last few years of his second term.
After last week’s debate, does anyone think that Biden has the strength to make through till 2028?
One of the proudest days of my life was when Joe Biden was declared winner of the 2020 election. He has done an admirable job in the four years since. But does he want his legacy to be that he lost to one of the least qualified candidates in history? I think the president and his staff need to do some serious soul-searching in the next few days.
No way! I’m tired of dems annointing themselves. Let Biden back out and throw it open; let the people decide.