Survivor: Candidate Island
A Modest Proposal to Cure Debate Week Hangover
Biden dismissed concerns about his debate performance and calls for him to drop out. “I think we did well,” he told reporters during a stop at a Waffle House after the debate.
Oy. My ears are burning, rubbed raw from the pressure of my cellphone. For the past 48 hours, everyone’s been calling everyone. In the old days, when people died of tuberculosis, there was a roseate period just before death called the hectic flush: that’s what it feels like within the Democratic Party right now. There are two conversations going on—public and private. The public conversation is doing the Democrats no favors. It consists of various prominent pols circling the wagons and saying Biden’s still their guy. They seem as lost to reality as Biden did Thursday night. They are the Ostrich Party and they’re leaving a very strong perception that they can not be trusted with the truth. Trump—the most flagrant liar in the history of American politics—is looking trustworthy by comparison. He’s running ads that simply show Biden flailing about on Thursday. They are devastating.
The other conversation, the real one, is taking place privately and it revolves around a single question: Was the debate just a bad night for Biden…or was it a sign of a slow sliding debilitation? If the latter—and no one I’ve spoken with thinks it was just a bad night—then the party must act to replace the President. Ezra No Relation Klein has been saying for months that Biden should stand down and he does so effectively again today, pushing back against risk averse Democrats who worry that there will be chaos, unintended consequences, division, disaster.
Disaster is certainly a possibility. BUT…
There also could be fun. And exhilaration, and enlightenment, and entertainment. This would require the Democrats to take a page from the Trump playbook. They could turn the nomination process into an eight-week reality TV show: Survivor—Candidate Island. A handful of candidates would be put through a political obstacle course—debates, rallies, town meetings with the various state delegations to the Democratic Convention. There are precedents like this—John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson speaking to the California delegation at the 1960 Democratic Convention. Today’s version would be more carefully produced, of course. The Democrats have a boatload of talent in the entertainment industry who could do this, like the people who produced the Select Committee hearings on January 6…or the 2020 Democratic Convention for that matter.
It would have energy and drama—an eight week run to the presidency makes a lot more sense these days than the vestigial two-year slog. The convention would be a political Super Bowl, with multiple ballots, leading to the ultimate anti-Trump tag line: You’re hired! With any luck, the public would be engaged in the ceremonies of democracy as they haven’t been for decades.
But there are two pre-conditions:
Biden has to stand down.
The Democratic National Committee has to limit the field to six or eight candidates.
No one I’ve spoken with can imagine anyone with the cojones to tell Biden that it’s time to wrap up a brilliant career and a very good presidency. But that could change in the next days, especially if evidence emerges that the Biden we saw on Thursday is the real unvarnished Biden. One truly does wonder about his health.
The second precondition might be fun: You could have the 4000 convention delegates cast an immediate ranked choice ballot for their top six contestants, er, candidates. In fact, you could have 10 candidates for starters, with the bottom five competing in a winner-take-all play-in debate—again, voting limited to convention delegates. There are endless possibilities. I’m sure more experienced political media people than I would have a better sense of the possible. The process could be chaotic. It could potentially be disastrous. But it would be a sharp contrast with the authoritarian Trump cult, which lacks the courage to challenge a convicted felon.
Survivor: Candidate Island could also change the way we select candidates and for the better, away from the current haphazard system that rewards political extremists and activists. It’s time politics entered the 21st century. It’s time for a controlled democratic process that enthralls a national audience.
Talk Among Yourselves…and with me.
I’d welcome comments and discussion on this topic, but to do so you have to be a Sanity Clause subscriber. You can do it for free…or, better still, you can pay a modest stipend.
The eight week run for the gold or lead chalice, depending on the outcome of the election, would draw almost all the energy away from Trump, there is no better reason to do it. Really like the survivor Candidate Race. The easiest way, is to get each delegation to nominate up to two nominations. Any other delegation, that has no nominee, other than one already on the board, could decline to name one. Once there is a final number of nominees, it is time for a vote. The entire convention delegation would be required to vote on each nominee. The requirement to go further is they must get at least 40% of the vote. Any delegation could vote for as many or as few nominees as they chose. Once they are down to five or six it is question time.
Question time is being hit with five question out of a possible one hundred, with two proposed by each delegation. No question would be repeated twice. After all have had their time in the spot light answering, it is voting time again. This time the same rules, except the nominee must cross 50%. Some will have dropped out, then comes debate time.
The head of the state delegation that the nominee was born in, gets to ask each nominee a question, after those have been done, Democrat leaders take over and question them for an hour or more.
Then it is voting time again. Same rules, but a 57.5%+ minimum to go on. After this the convention
goes back to ordinary rules, and may the best person win.
It should be riveting TV for any political junkie and or Trump hater. The reviews would be reasonable, possibly great.
After the nominee and their vice-nominee have been chosen, its SHOW TIME.
Get that show on the road with plenty of stops and hope the candidates can keep up.
Joe, your analysis is spot on. Biden did a miserable performance in the debate. Right at the beginning he looked ancient, uncomfortable and appeared older than his 81 years. My guess is his debate preparation team kept filling him with statistics and lines and did not give him time to rest. Shame on his team. But one must assume Biden has good days and bad days. It happens with age. I am 77 and I know.
I wrote a Substack a year ago saying Biden should retire at the end of his term, and he could rejoice in his many accomplishments. But he rejected that advice and his ego drove him forward, so he risked the opposite of a retirement at the top of his game. And now we have the results that the downside risk has become reality.
I agree that Biden needs to withdraw. He is not up to competing against Trump, and we cannot risk a Trump election to the presidency. Trump is also degraded at 78 and he talks gibberish and cannot remember things. He lies because he fails to admit the truth. He is the Joseph Goebbels of this election.
The Democratic Party and the nation cannot afford the risk of allowing Trump back to the Oval Office armed with his 2025 Manual from the Heritage Group. Though Trump is diminished, he will bring on loyalists to implement his authoritarian and anti-democratic government. He will look to Putin, Xi, Orban and Netanyahu for guidance. We cannot take that risk.
Democratic leaders need to meet with Joe and Jill Biden and tell them it is time to step aside and allow new, energetic leaders to compete for the nomination. Yes, it will be chaotic, but other countries hold elections without the ridiculous two-year slog. There are good candidates waiting in the wings. They will come forward if Biden opens the door for them. Personally I think Josh Shapiro would be an effective candidate. He could make mincemeat of Trump's stream of consciousness and threats and intimidation. Trump debates like the Mafia Boss he is. Last time he told the Proud Boys to be ready, and he unleashed their horror at the Capitol. They were Trump's hitmen. Shapiro would call Trump out on such tactics and reveal Trump's inability to govern. Shapiro would respond to Trump's lies with factual support to shut Trump down.
But Biden cannot take forever to make a decision as there is not much time to the Convention. New candidates need some time to present themselves to the American people.
Hopefully leading democrats will help Biden make a quick decision to exit and retire.