Editor’s note: David Axelrod, CNN senior political commentator and host of “The Axe Files,” was a senior advisor to former President Barack Obama and chief strategist for Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.
CNN
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At the start of Friday’s interview, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked President Joe Biden if he watched the disastrous June 27 debate with Donald Trump, which posed an existential threat to the Biden campaign.
The president paused, appeared to recollect, and then said quietly, “I don’t think so. No.”
Biden, understandably, wants to put his terrible debate performance behind him, and his interviews on Friday were aimed at trying to calm the panic that has gripped Democrats.
He was unsuccessful.
Indeed, the president delivered a more energetic performance than he did on that disastrous debate night, when he seemed disoriented and incoherent at times. In the interview, he forcefully touted his own record and slammed Trump’s character, just as his supporters have come to expect from the debate stage.
But on the big question now hanging over his campaign – whether he still has the stamina and mental fortitude to serve another four years in the world’s toughest job – the 81-year-old president offered few reassuring comments beyond boasting about the impressive performance of his first term.
What on earth happened to him in the most crucial debate of his political career? Biden offered a variety of explanations: a bad cold, fatigue, improper preparation. Finally, he shrugged: “Tonight was just terrible. I don’t know why.”
“So how quickly did you realize that that night was a bad one?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“Well, I realized I was having a bad night when I realized he was still yelling even though the mic was off while I was answering questions. And I let myself get distracted by that… I realized I was not in control.”
That’s the Republican attack in a nutshell: The older Biden is out of control, which is why his debate missteps were so devastating.
When Stephanopoulos asked the president whether he would undergo an independent medical evaluation, including neurological and cognitive testing, and make the results public, Biden refused and deflected.
“I take cognitive tests every day,” he said, pointing to the hectic duties of the presidency.
Perhaps so, but most Americans who have observed him recently would give him a low rating on that score.
After the debate, the already-sizable number of Americans who think the president is too old to serve another term rose to 74%. Though Trump’s terrible performance in the debate was overshadowed by Biden’s gaffes, only 42% said the same about Trump, 78.
Equally worrying is Biden’s steadfast denial of his public stance and position in a campaign he has framed as an existential battle for the survival of American democracy.
Three separate polls conducted after the debate, by CNN, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, all showed Biden trailing Trump by six points nationally. Polls so far have shown Biden trailing in nearly every battleground state he narrowly won in 2020. And now several other states he won — Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Virginia — appear to be at stake as well.
If things continue as they are, Biden is likely to suffer a major defeat at the hands of a lawless and unpopular former president.
But when Stephanopoulos confronted Biden with polling numbers showing him trailing, with the lowest approval ratings of any president ever to win reelection, Biden wasn’t having any of it.
“I… don’t believe that.” “I don’t think there’s anybody more qualified to be president or to win this election than me,” he said.
Amid growing calls for Trump to stand down among Democrats who fear a crushing election defeat, the president said only “God Almighty” could convince him to give up the election.
Denial. Delusion. Rebellion.
When Stephanopoulos asked how he would feel if he stayed in office and Trump won in November, the president, who has said this is the most important election of our lifetimes, seemed unfazed by the prospect.
“I tried my best and I feel like I did the best job I could, which is what this job is about.”
No, that’s not right.
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Sometimes the Almighty God appears in the form of enlightened self-awareness.
As Biden stated, the stakes are high, and if he believes that, as I believe they are, he will ultimately do what duty and patriotism demands and step down.
If he doesn’t, it will be Biden’s age, not Trump’s moral or ethical failings, that will determine the remainder of this most crucial election race, tarnishing the president’s historic legacy.
