There were many right answers to this question, but the obvious ones were something like, “I wouldn’t be running this campaign if I didn’t truly believe I could beat Trump.”
Instead, Biden offered what was close to the worst possible response, and not just because his syntax was a bit choppy: “As long as I’ve done my best and I’ve done the best job I know I can, that’s how I’ll feel. That’s what this is about.”
No, whether Biden has the ability to do a “good” job on the campaign trail is not “the meat of the issue.” Donald Trump’s threat to democracy is the foremost issue facing the country and central to the president’s reelection case. Biden’s response undermined his core logic: he made the issue his own, not Trump’s.
Less dramatic, but an unfortunate indication of what seemed to be a lack of seriousness about the crisis facing his campaign, was Biden’s response to Stephanopoulos’ question about whether the president had watched the debate afterward: “I don’t think I have,” Biden replied.
Biden’s somewhat limited response to a simple “yes” or “no” question was hardly confidence-building, but putting that aside, the fact that the president did not reflect on the performance that put the entire campaign at risk helps explain why he did not immediately understand the need to quickly and forcefully reassure party leaders and rank-and-file members in the aftermath of the incident. That’s why he lost so much time in the aftermath of the disaster.
The Biden campaign has been able to hang on so far because most of the pundits who have been calling on Biden to back down did so long ago, and from Biden’s perspective, they are simply using a “bad night” — the president’s unfortunate word for Stephanopoulos — to undermine Biden once again.
But his challenge is not to critics who have always underestimated him, but to those who have long respected and liked him and continue to value his great accomplishments as president. We accepted the rationale of his reelection campaign: that, despite his age and its implications, he remains the party’s best option. Given that a succession fight could split the party (and it could still be disruptive if he drops out), Biden was the only politician who could hold together the party’s often-disjointed coalition.
All of this was based on our confidence that Biden would be able to pursue his case against Trump effectively enough to give voters the assurance they needed that he could succeed in the presidency if re-elected.
Of the many words I’ve written over the years, these, written just days before the debate, may have aged more than any others, and certainly faster. I mocked Democrats who needed continued support and reassurance that Biden could win. I confidently predicted that, given Biden’s low performance bar and his success in other key moments, such as the State of the Union, he was “likely to meet or exceed expectations.”
To put that prediction in modern terms, I think it would be “a huge failure.”
But what friendly pundits think doesn’t matter. What matters to Mr. Biden is what his elected officials say. He now needs to reach out much more broadly to the representatives and senators whose fate is inextricably linked to his own.
They, too, have an obligation to Biden to be forthright. That’s what Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on their Sunday shows, without explicitly calling Biden out. “Let’s be honest,” Murphy said after praising Biden and his record. “I think there are still questions in voters’ minds. … This is a really important week. I think the clock is ticking.”
Schiff stressed the need for broad consultation, noting that while Biden had discussed the issues raised in the debate with his family, “you have to look for people who have some distance and objectivity.”
Biden is still far preferable to Trump, of course. But reporters aren’t making up the alarm they’re hearing from Democratic politicians. Many who worry that Biden’s candidacy is unsustainable have refrained from speaking out of respect for him. They can no longer do so.
One of the hardest things for the president, for those around him, and for the many who believed he was still the best option for the country, will be to acknowledge that those who were concerned about the effect of Biden’s age on his ability to function may have been right all along. This is hard enough for mere pundits. I can only imagine what it must be like for the president and those closest to him.
Many Democrats are understandably upset that the news has been dominated by Biden’s debate struggles and not by the serious danger Trump poses to the republic. For Biden’s admirers, the great sadness at this point is that his withdrawal may be the only way to shift the focus back to where it should be.
