President Joe Biden tried at an impassioned campaign rally on Friday to convince American voters that his stunning performance at the previous night’s debate in Atlanta was an anomaly.
“I don’t speak as fluently as I used to. I can’t argue as well as I used to. But I know what I know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong.” The 81-year-old president has shown he is more capable of conveying the truth than his opponent, former President Donald Trump.
But unfortunately, Biden should withdraw from the race in the interest of the nation he has served so well for half a century.
There is a precedent for a President duly elected by the American people stepping down gracefully for the good of the nation. Tired of constant attacks from his opponents and desperate to avoid the impression of America being a dictatorship, George Washington, with the help of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, drafted what is known as one of the most important documents in our nation’s history. Having decided that he did not want a third term in office, Washington never actually delivered the document known as his Farewell Address. The document was drafted in September 1796 and first published in newspapers across the nation two months later.
The first president, never one to lie, acknowledged that at age 64, it was time to step down. “As the weight of the years gathers with each passing day, I feel more and more keenly that the shadow of retirement is both welcome and necessary to me,” Washington wrote.
For President Biden, the shadow of retirement is now necessary.
During Thursday night’s agonizing 90 minutes, the president failed to convey a competent, coherent vision for America’s future; failed to outline the most basic aspects of his policy; failed to take credit for significant accomplishments during his three and a half years in office; and failed to refute the evasions of his opponent, who, according to CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale, lied 30 times during the debate — one for every 90 seconds allotted.
Representatives for President Biden tried to downplay his debate performance; aides claimed the president had a cold. Vice President Kamala Harris argued that the leader of the free world should be judged on his entire term as president, not just one night. Former President Barack Obama said on social media that “sometimes debate night just doesn’t go well.”
This response is an insult to the American people.
This wasn’t a bad night. It confirmed the worst fears of some of Biden’s most ardent supporters: that after 36 years in the senate, eight as vice president and one term in the White House, age was finally catching up with him.
This moment is something Democrats and Biden’s advisers were thinking about when Biden was seeking his party’s presidential nomination in 2020. There was serious public debate about Biden, then 77, pledging to just one term. That debate was an admission of the obvious: If reelected, Biden would be 86 at the end of his term in January 2029. There is no historical precedent for this. And now there are signs of decline, which became clear on Thursday.
Whether Biden can withstand the mental and physical rigors of another four years in office will be a concern no matter who his opponent is, and the fact that he is the only obstacle to President Trump returning to the Oval Office significantly heightens that stakes.
Trump has already hinted at what a second term might look like, saying he wants “revenge” against his political opponents and telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity at a town hall last year that he would be a dictator from day one (but only on day one).
Trump campaign staff have tried to dismiss these statements as hyperbole, which might have been more acceptable if Trump hadn’t tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election here in Georgia and repeatedly falsely claimed the election was not his.
That stance alone should have disqualified Trump in the eyes of voters. The former president’s personal and professional behavior has been so egregious that his former vice president, chief of staff and numerous cabinet members have rejected him. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, himself a possible 2028 presidential candidate, cast a blank ballot in his state’s Republican primary, saying he refused to vote for a man who tried to subvert his state’s electoral process.
That Trump remains at the top of the Republican field is a testament to the deep divisions and tribalism that characterize 21st-century American politics.
When George Washington informed the nation of his decision not to run for a third term, he warned of the insidious nature of political parties, which were then in their infancy: “Political parties are likely, in the course of time and circumstances, to become powerful instruments for cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men to subvert the power of the people, and seize the government.”
Trump’s Thursday night speech was supposed to urge leaders of his party to reject his falsehoods.
But that did not happen.
Biden has vowed to do everything in his power to stop Trump from returning to the White House. With four months to go until the election, if he truly wants to beat Trump, he must hand the baton to the next generation of Democratic leadership and urge the party to nominate another candidate at its convention in Chicago in August.
Doing this would require a massive, unprecedented series of legal and regulatory actions to name Biden’s successor and place him on the ballot in each state — a difficult but necessary task that must begin immediately.
The Democratic Party is filled with talented, principled leaders who can advance the president’s agenda and offer Americans a viable alternative to President Trump. The right candidate will prioritize appealing to both Republican and Democratic voters.
Biden’s candidacy was based on his status as the incumbent president and the belief among Democratic leaders and pollsters that he had the best chance of beating Trump in November. That’s no longer the case.
That reality may be hard to accept for a man whose personal and political life have been characterized by tenacity, but it is the truth.
Biden deserves a better exit from public office than the one he endured when he walked off the stage Thursday night.
If he displays the courage and dignity that have characterized his political career, he may follow in the footsteps of this nation’s first president and retire with the confidence that he has once again served his country with honor.
— Editorial Board
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