The Stephanopoulos Interview
Didn't Inspire Confidence
The President wasn’t addled. He had his talking points, ducks in a row. But he seemed, as he has lately, old and frail. There were big things, like the fact that he hasn’t had a cognitive test lately. There was the flimsiness of his excuses for his foggy debate performance—jet lag, a rough schedule, a cold. There were other goofs. But the problem here is that this man didn’t seem strong and hale enough to take on Donald Trump in mixed combat. He didn’t seem strong enough to be anything but defensive.
There will be those who will say—who are saying on television right now—well, he wasn’t so bad, he wasn’t as bad as the debate. But that is not enough. Stephanopoulos didn’t ask a single question that the Biden team didn’t anticipate. He didn’t ask, for example: Were you disappointed that Merrick Garland didn’t go after Trump’s attempt to use fake electors to steal the election sooner? How would you evaluate the performance of your Homeland Security Security, whatzis name? The unexpected question was the true test here.
This is the reality: Biden is losing to Trump and falling further behind. His ploy to reverse that scenario—the debate—failed miserably. Trump is about to move from strength to strength, especially if he makes an exciting vice presidential pick in the next few days. The only way to steal the story, the summer, from Trump is to create a new story, a new campaign.
To take on—and take out—Donald Trump, you need a candidate who does not slur his words in a whispery voice. You need a candidate who is strong and clear, fresh and focused, and creative in ways that thrill.
There is, as I’ve written several times lately, a terrible sadness to this. Joe Biden has been a fine warrior. He is a fine man. Everything he says about the succcesses of his presidency is true. Everything he says about the unlimited decadence of Donald Trump is true. But he is deluding himself—and trying to delude us—if he thinks he has the wherewithal to mount this fight. There can be no room for error, for vain hopes here: The future of the country is at stake.
We can not indulge an elderly man’s wishful thinking here. We can not pretend that the senior citizen interviewed by George Stephanopoulos has the vitality to be president for the next four years. We can’t pretend that he has the vitality to continue this fight, especially if we don’t know if he has a wasting illness of old age.
There is nothing that happened tonight to slow the slide, to temper the fears of Democrats—to temper the fears of Americans—that this is a good man who has passed his ability to serve effectively. I fear the Democrats are going to have to brutal about this. But he has to go.
I suppose if you have had as long a political career in the spotlight as Joe Biden you are bound to look like Zelig. As the "party line" has shifted over the years Joe has shifted with it. The one common thought about him throughout has been that he is personally a nice guy. Didn't give off that vibe in the interview. Sounded like a stubborn, selfish guy who --uniquely-- thinks of himself as a unique national resource.
You have to wonder what the people close to President Biden are thinking. If he makes it to election day it won't end well.
But I also have to say this slow train wreck is a commentary on the pathetic condition of both political parties. We have two candidates who are widely disliked. The democrats now have a chance to nominate someone new. Supposedly their bench is full of talent. Republicans have nominated someone who isn't even a Republican if that means standing for some kind of coherent center-right governing philosophy. I thought both parties had a chance this year to mount a vigorous contest for the nomination during which competing ideas and programs might be the focus of some useful discussion. The wheels have come off the nominating process.