...About the Other Night
Thoughts on a disastrous debate for Biden
We all have eyes and ears here - with apologies to any eyeless or earless readers. And most of us saw President Hindenburg Biden’s disastrous performance at Thursday night’s CNN debate. If you didn’t tune in, congratulations on avoiding the smoldering wreckage. While many viewers understandably tapped out early - most people don’t have the stomach for, essentially, a live snuff film - I watched the entire catastrophe unfold in real time because I am a sick, sick individual.
The sitting President of the United States of America looked weak, pale, and confused - like his pudding cup wasn’t on the cart and he got lost wandering down the hallway to find it. Meanwhile, the repeat fraudster, adjudicated rapist, and 34-times convicted felon at the other podium appeared confident, bronze, and remarkably restrained (for him) in demeanor. Never mind the unending firehose of lies from Trump. He vomited falsehood after falsehood seamlessly, effortlessly, with the stage presence of a well-practiced performer.
You and I might understand that Biden, despite his frequent stumbles, stutters, and dead-ends, won the debate on substance by, you know, telling the truth - however poorly. But you and I also know how vapid and gullible most of the American news media - CNN’s lack of real-time fact-checking was criminal negligence - and a large swathe of the electorate really are, and how optics matter more than facts, truth, or morality much of the time.
A chorus of pundits and commentators spent the day Friday telling Old Joe it’s time to pack things up and ride off into the Delaware sunset - Tom Nichols and a host of others in The Atlantic, Nicholas Kristof, Paul Krugman , and the entire editorial board at the New York Times, former Obama aides David Axelrod, David Plouffe, and the Pod Save America guys - all either calling on Biden to step aside or for party leaders to choose another candidate at the Democratic National Convention this August in Chicago. Even friend of the ‘stack, Jared Yates Sexton, with whom I almost always agree wholeheartedly, excoriated Biden and everyone around him in calling for the President’s resignation.
I can’t say I disagree with the sentiment. Again, Biden looked absolutely terrible. The left, the center, Democrats, democracy itself, would have been better served by a younger, more dynamic, more progressive candidate in this perilous time. At the very least, a vigorous primary battle could have given the incumbent much-needed practice to work out the kinks in his debate prep, OR demonstrated the Methuselan Biden’s impotence with sufficient time for Democrats to select a more suitable nominee.
Let me be clear. Heads MUST roll at the Democratic National Committee. Everyone responsible for the sad state of the party, from DNC Chair Jaime Harrison on down needs to go (I hereby nominate
to head the organization). Geriatric party elders Pelosi, Schumer, Clyburn should be thanked for their service, given a nice watch and a rocking chair, and told to go spend their final years enjoying time with the grandkids after quietly finishing their terms. Nobody older than 65 should be making major decisions about the direction of the party. I don’t want hear from the Clintons; I don’t want to see James Carville’s balloon-knot face on my TV; and though she doesn’t fit in with the age cohort I just described, I will not entertain your plan to nominate Michelle Obama - let’s leave nepotism to the GOP. It is completely inexcusable to find ourselves in a neck-and-neck election with a cadre of openly-corrupt, unpopular, MAGA extremist lunatics that only gross incompetence or complicity explains.Yet here we are. What a dreadful place to find ourselves as Americans.
So, how do we navigate the next four months, and how do Democrats win this contest and enough down-ballot races to enact meaningful policy?
First of all, stop calling for California Governor Gavin Newsom to be elevated to the top of the ticket. Or Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, or anyone else whose name isn’t Kamala Harris. All have their strengths and could mount formidable campaigns - in 2028. Look, I’m no card-carrying member of the KHive - the former California Senator and Attorney General was nowhere near one of my top choices going into the 2020 Democratic primary. But, to even consider leapfrogging a white man over the sitting Vice President in a backroom deal is straight up disrespectful to Harris, to women, and to every person of color in the party. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer? Another potential star in ‘28. I’d still be incensed if I were a member of one of those minority communities.
Furthermore, talk of an open convention sounds like an invitation to chaos. At least one Washington Post opinion writer thinks that’s a good idea. I have serious doubts. With the threat of Project 2025, global authoritarianism, and apocalyptic climate change hanging over us, could it possibly be a good idea to offer as an alternative to the chaos candidacy of Trump, more chaos? I just don’t think it’s a winning play.
So, it’s Kamala, or we stick with Biden. Look, I’m a leftist. I’m a progressive, democratic socialist. I believe our time calls for significant change. But first we need to win - and I think the electorate wants a proverbial steady hand, however shaky the literal hand - to guide those much-needed reforms.
Joe Biden’s terrible Thursday night cannot be swept under the rug, but we don’t need to push him out a window or invent a resignation-necessitating medical emergency. It was just one (again, very bad) night, and debate performance does not equal governing competence. Televised debates are for media personalities. Administering the functions of government is for public servants.
And while it was great to see the President in much better form at a rally the following day, remember, our vote in November is not for one man, but for a team of people and a governing philosophy. With the glaring exception of mishandling our rogue ally Israel, Biden’s team of public servants has overseen the most progressive presidential term of my lifetime. I published a whole 6,000+ word, two-part commentary about it:
If Democratic leadership had read these pieces (and they should - forward them if you know the right people), they’d know what we need to do for the next four months. This election is about far more than Trump vs. Biden. Joe is the captain of Team Democracy, but still only one member of the team. Don’t center the MAN, center the PLAN. This is Project 2025 vs. democracy itself. We need to answer the Heritage Foundation’s dystopian blueprint with our own detailed plan (a progressive version of Contract With America, which I’ve given the working title Freedom 250) to enact the people’s agenda and run on IT, up and down the ballot. Pool resources. Act like a bloc. Let a popular platform do most of the work so under-resourced Democrats with no name recognition in places like rural Indiana have something to build on.
We’ve got four months. We don’t need to panic, but we do need a plan. I think this is a solid one, but what do I know? It’s only the future of our republic, and maybe humanity, at stake.
What worries me the most is not that Biden will remain the candidate, but that the Biden campaign team has vowed to continue their current ineffective strategies.
This is a 5-alarm fire and Biden's team is pretending it's politics as usual.
If hemorrhaging blocks of the base and losing every swing state isn't sufficient to change course, and doubling down on this losing strategy is the answer to the debate debacle...Trump 2.0 will be inevitable.
Biden and his team seem impervious to constructive input.
Apologies in advance for being long-winded. I have so many conflicting thoughts.
Debating skills have zero to do with how someone governs. Campaigning is one set of skills and people, being a good president is another set of skills and people, and the two rarely overlap. We know Biden is up to the actual job, because he has done/ is doing great things for the country. Like you said, Scott, we donʻt vote for presidents; we vote for a whole administration. And Bidenʻs administration has been stellar for the most part. I believe this administration has been the best and most progressive of my life. As a group, theyʻve gotten more good things done than any administration since LBJ (who, like Biden, was not very progressive as an individual). I wish people would be more clear that weʻre worried about Bidenʻs energy for campaigning and not his presidenting.
I wanted to share an idea that some political scientists and historians are saying online: Keep Biden, get through the election somehow, and if he needs to resign from office in the future, then Harris can take over and have a great administration behind her. They are saying that the election is way too close to pick a new candidate in any fair or democratic way, get candidates vetted, get the person on the ballot in all states, let alone get an actual campaign going. The election will be over before all that happens. Biden resigning anytime after Jan. 20 would be much much smoother, itʻs happened several times in our history, and it would keep our voters together. If we were ever going to drop Biden, the decision-makers needed to start preparing a couple of years ago, and we should have had a big primary.
Trying to get all our voters enthusiastic about a new candidate that we didnʻt even get to vote on is a much harder task than people are admitting. Hereʻs my thesis statment: Pushing Biden out right now would be just as--if not more--risky as keeping him!
I agree with you, Scott, that if we do lose Biden, we have to go with Harris. Sheʻs the only choice that wouldnʻt throw us into total chaos and fratricide. But we all know (based on past experience) that many of the uninformed people who decide our elections prefer voting for a White guy. But picking a White guy with no federal experience to shove Harris out of the way would have real and negative consequences for our voter base (and he probably wouldnʻt do a great job as president anyway, if he doesnʻt have experience on foreign affairs or working with Congress). I could go back and forth like this all day. Itʻs a real pickle weʻre in, for sure, made worse because Bidenʻs energy is an unknown variable, considering how great he looked in NC the next day. How can anyone plan for anything when no one knows what to expect??
I just wanted to add these things to the discussion. I am as nervous as anyone about what we witnessed Thurs night, and neither Biden nor Harris are far enough left for me. That said, I will 1000% vote for whoever is the Dem presidential candidate. I would eagerly vote for a rock over Trump. But people like me arenʻt the ones we need to convince.
We Hoosiers, whose votes wonʻt count for this race, have to do everything we can to help other states who will decide the president, no matter who the Dem candidate is. Our part in democracy is just as important as the candidateʻs part or the campaign teamʻs part. Just like Mueller, Biden isnʻt going to save us by himself. We have to save ourselves. If we only complain and donʻt participate in campaigns, then we have no right to whine afterward that the campaign team screwed up. Just voting is not enough this time around.