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Joe Biden thinks he’s digging in, but in reality, he’s only digging down. And as usual, the longer this goes on the worse it gets.
It’s now been two weeks since his cadaverous, confused performance at the presidential debate, and the crisis surrounding his candidacy isn’t just getting graver, it’s getting weirder.
After all, we are used to the other guy being the luminously spray-tanned leader who listens only to his family, attacks “elites,” distrusts the polls, and calls up cable news shows to rant about how he is the only person who can save America.
Biden and his staff are trying everything they can to shape the narrative that he’s still vigorous and viable – more interviews, another speech, another memo. At last night’s NATO press conference, he may have managed, for the time being, to dispel some of the biggest concerns about his neurological health.
But the polls are still clear. He is trailing even a deeply unpopular and criminally convicted Trump. A majority of Democrats now want Biden to step aside. The leaks about Democrat concern are turning into small floods. Some of those are from within the House, others from within the White House. Major donors and celebrity backers have begun pulling the plug.
Slowly, and then all at once, is how dams break. In this case, the sooner the better because there are some important people who have work to do to restore their credibility after all of this.
Chief among them, of course, is Biden himself. He may really believe he’s still that scrappy ol’ kid from Scranton, dusting himself off for one last comeback – but the game is up: If this is a film, it’s not “Rocky II,” it’s “Weekend at Bernie’s.”
I don’t pretend to know if another ticket – probably Kamala Harris with a well-chosen Veep – would be a lock to beat Donald Trump. But it seems clear that Biden’s already weak poll numbers have little room to grow.
Every gaffe, leak, or stumble is only downside, particularly now that doubts have been clearly planted. What seems clear, at a minimum, is that Biden is at his ceiling, while anyone else is probably not. A big difference in an election that is likely to be very tight.
A wise Biden can take the next few days to arrange a graceful – and gracious – exit from his candidacy that preserves his ability to help, rather than hinder, whoever succeeds him.
In a way, his unexpectedly strong showing at the NATO presser sets him up to exit with more dignity – on his terms, as an aging leader, judiciously stepping aside for the good of the country, rather than as a humiliated grandparent forced to hand over his keys. There is certainly a good speech to be written that enables him to do this. And we know he performs well with teleprompters.
The second big loser in all of this is the Democratic Party itself. For three years, we’ve been told two things: That if Trump wins, American democracy is over, and that Biden is vigorous, coherent, and ready to do the job of defending our republic.
But now we know the second thing is untrue – or at least appears untrue to enough voters that it’s a political fact. And that leaves us questioning whether the party really believes the first thing either.
In other words, you want me to believe that this could be the final fight for democracy, and you’re sending in a man visibly tired by the job. If he can’t do fundraisers later than 8 p.m., how’s he gonna work later than 2027?
Ushering Biden aside now would give Democrats a fresh surge of enthusiasm and interest – upstaging the RNC next week would be a media coup of Trumpian proportions.
But it would also be a chance to reset their narrative and credibility. Instead of trying to persuade unenthusiastic voters to simply shove an ailing man across the line in four months for the sake of “democracy,” they can lay out a vision of governing for the next four years. Above all, they could suddenly be the party that is not running one of the two men who most Americans now find “embarrassing.”
Lastly, “the media.” I use that term in quotations because the various print, cable, and social media sources do not constitute “a media.” But this episode has nevertheless damaged people’s already low trust in mainstream outlets.
On the one hand, Biden critics say mainstreamers have displayed at best an unseemly lack of curiosity about the president’s health, and at worst an inclination to actively protect him from scrutiny on this subject. It’s true that the Biden White House has been unusually opaque, but in principle that should have invited more scrutiny, not less. And clips of mainstream press shooting down questions about Biden’s gaffes as “right-wing” propaganda or “fake news” have not aged well.
Meanwhile, on the other side, some big Biden defenders now feel – in an odd, through-the-looking-glass moment – that “the media” is unfairly attacking their candidate, cynically turning public opinion against him without focusing enough on the other guy’s weaknesses. I find it odd to suggest that somehow the mainstream media hasn’t done enough to highlight Trump’s shortcomings, but these are strange times.
The good news, again, is that Biden, the Democrats, and the media all have a chance to reset, reflect, and refocus.
But with just a few months before the election, there isn’t much time. They have to stop digging down and start digging out. Over to you, Mr. President.
And now, over to you, readers! Should Biden step aside? Has the press done a bad job? Are Democrats in trouble? Let us know what you think here. Include your name and where you’re writing from, and we may run your response in an upcoming edition of our popular newsletter, GZERO Daily.