I’ve been continually against all those I perceived as chicken littles who seemed to be crying that the sky is falling with Biden’s age, but I’m now starting to think I was wrong and they were right. I think Biden has done a very good job as president and that he doesn’t get nearly enough credit. But in my opinion, last night was fatal to his candidacy. Biden and his team called for the debate, set the terms, and had all the issues on his side. His opponent is a convicted felon who was forced to say (untruthfully, of course) “I did not sleep with a porn star” during the debate. It should have been a slam dunk. If Biden was ill, they should have postponed, or at the very least told everyone beforehand. I think the presidency is ultimately more than one person - his staff and team are what get everything done - and in other cases I could rationalize away one bad performance (ie Obama’s terrible debate in 2012). But in this case I honestly look at him and as much as I love him I don’t feel he should be president for another four years. A big part of the job is communicating clearly and effectively, and he can’t do that anymore. In some ways, I almost feel cathartic this morning because I think I feared this for a long time and now it’s out in the open. I think it would be best if someone else steps in and Biden gave his blessing - that’s the ideal scenario in my mind. If Biden remains the candidate, I would of course vote for him over Trump, but voters will not be able to unsee last night … I’m afraid if he stays in the race this could be really bad.
Maybe I’m overreacting, maybe it was a one night blip … it just really doesn’t honestly feel that way to me and I can’t seem to convince myself otherwise at the moment. His State of the Union speech was so reassuring and I was hoping for a reprise of that Joe last night. But the Joe that showed up played into everything his critics have been saying. I feel very bad for Joe, but it’s akin to the feeling when you realize a parent is no longer capable of what they once were such as telling them they can’t be allowed to drive anymore. Like many people, I’ve been through this with my own parents. It’s painful, just like last night’s debate was painful. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Diane Feinstein … they were inspiring, achieving, great people who didn’t know when they should have stepped down. I hope Joe won’t make the same mistake. Having to wrest control from him would be brutal, and an inter-party battle would be ugly. The goal of all needs to be defeating Trump. Setting egos aside is not easily done with politicians, I know, but that’s what the moment calls for.