The President of the United States proved himself capable of speaking in complete sentences during a press conference Thursday night.
This is significant because, prior to the presser, President Joe Biden’s skills in the most basic aspects of public speaking were in doubt. In the first presidential debate in late June and in his interview with ABC News last week, Biden repeatedly failed to produce coherent English on command.
In a perfectly rational world, Biden’s previous public performances should have an unusual quality Raised Bar for him at Thursday’s press conference: If you show you’re a formidable candidate at your worst, you have to show you’re absolutely one to win the trust of your party. bright One of your best. Otherwise, why would your teammates tolerate your open incredulity?
But not all Democrats see it that way.
Many in the party are reluctant to publicly disavow their president, who has made clear his desire to stay in the 2024 race. And they have too Little faith in Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the most likely Democrat to replace Biden at the top of the ticket. Because of this, some Democratic lawmakers want to believe that Biden’s departure is not crystal clear. But the president’s disastrous debate performance forced Democrats to entertain the idea that Biden is the anchor around their party’s neck. Since the press revealed that Biden was Such mental suffering With increasing frequency – and vote Showed the President and his team The ranks of sleeping-insurrectionists swelled. CBS News before Thursday’s press conference Report That “dozens” of congressional Democrats were considering calling for Biden’s resignation after the event.
Yet some of these reluctant rebels apparently found reason to falter at Biden’s press conference. Between the end of that presser and Friday midday, only a handful of Democratic lawmakers called on him to step down. Others, meanwhile, declared themselves convinced. “I think he’s convinced a lot of people that he should be in the race,” Rep. Steve Cohen (R-TN) told CNN. Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, Biden’s home state, announced“President Biden was knowledgeable, engaging and capable tonight.”
Democrats skeptical of Biden’s candidacy suggested that his performance had redeemed their cause. New York Times reporter Annie Carney’s summary Their thinking, “This could further slow down an already very slow decision process.”
But Democrats must not succumb to the gross irresponsibility of low expectations. What Biden didn’t do Thursday evening indicate that sticking with him is the Democratic Party’s best bet. And Democrats have a civic duty to put forward the strongest possible candidate, whose defeat would put the insurgents back in power.
To give Biden his due, his performance Thursday night suggests he is capable of carrying out the basic functions of his office — of course, more More able to do so than his Republican rival. The president demonstrated fluency in foreign affairs and the ability to express his thoughts intelligently, at least most of the time.
It is said that his comments on geopolitics are robust and cogent grossly exaggerated. To take just one example: At the NATO summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pressed the United States to give his country more latitude to use American weapons offensively. Zelensky argued that Ukraine could not win the war without greater freedom to strike military targets within Russia. A reporter asked Biden if he made the argument. was here Biden’s answerAccording to the White House transcript:
We allowed Zelensky to use American weapons in the near-abroad Russia. Whether he has — we should — attack him — for example, Zelensky should — he doesn’t, but if he has the ability to hit Moscow, hit the Kremlin, does that make sense? It won’t.
The question is: the best use of the weapons he has and the weapons we are getting at him? I got him more HIMAR- I got him more long-range abilities as well as defensive abilities.
And so, our military is working—I’m following the advice of my commander-in-chief — my — my — of the — chief of staff of the military as well as the secretary of defense and our intelligence people.
At the beginning of this answer, Biden struggles to articulate a coherent thought. In the end, he already said enough to outline his position to those in the know: He’s worried about getting into direct conflict with a nuclear superpower, so he doesn’t want Ukraine to be able to fire American weapons. In the main cities of Russia. He thinks he has supplied Ukraine with all the weapons it needs, but is ready to make adjustments, if his military advisers direct him to do so.
Of course, he did not express these ideas in a way that would be understandable to the average voter. And even a more primitive-sounding version of his answer would still be light on substance; Biden did not acknowledge that Ukraine has been losing ground for a long time now, nor did he explain how this trajectory could be reversed absent a change in US policy. In other words, he wasn’t really engaging with the argument he was trying to refute.
If the substance of Biden’s remarks was mediocre, the presentation was something even worse. The President looked weak and was coughing frequently. He failed to read his inaugural address from the teleprompter without repeatedly stumbling over his words. He referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump”. A Clip The subsequent gaffe quickly garnered over 8 million views on TikTok.
This performance is not a convincing case that Democrats can prevent the election of Donald Trump with Biden as their leader. Still, the president on Thursday advised him not to need To make such a case.
Asked if he would resign if his team presented him with polls saying Harris would fare better against Trump, Biden replied, “No, unless they come back and say, ‘There’s no way you’re going to win.'”
Number of presidential votes has fallen Since the debate (which he was already on track to lose before, according to polls). But it would be an exaggeration to say he can’t win. Polarization has established a solid floor in support of Biden. If he sweeps Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, he will likely win re-election. More than that 5 points behind Trump In Pennsylvania, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average, but trailing Trump small margin in the other two. It won’t take an extraordinarily large polling error — or a historically unprecedented shift in the political winds — for Biden to win.
Yet if Biden believes what he says about Donald Trump, he shouldn’t find the fact that he has a 0 percent chance of victory particularly reassuring.
The president is historically unpopular, and has been for most of his term. his Approval rating sits around 37 percent. Many voters blame him for inflation and (wrongly) Have more faith Trump’s ability to lower prices. And More than 70 percent Consider Biden too old for another term. He failed to catch Trump in swing states before the debates, even when media attention was focused on the Republican’s criminal record and the GOP had yet to begin seriously advertising against him. It’s highly unlikely that it will be any easier for Biden to gain ground, now that 1) he has repeatedly validated voters’ concerns about his cognitive decline, 2) Pres. His team revealed The public has been deliberately misled about his status, and 3) every misstatement he makes from here until Election Day will attract media scrutiny.
Voting can be wrong. But in both 2016 and 2020 they are overestimated Support Democrats. It’s unwise to assume that a hypothetical polling error is obscuring Biden’s strength rather than exaggerating it.
Kamala Harris is not an ideal candidate. And he will likely replace Biden. But he has A lesser objection rating than President, and circulation good from him Against Trump In several recent polls. Above all, he is an accomplished, coherent public speaker who is neither archaic nor deeply eccentric, a quality that distinguishes him favorably from the current standard-bearers of the major parties. I think some Democrats have forgotten what a normal presidential candidate sounds like. I’d encourage those impressed with Biden’s performance Thursday night to watch it — side-by-side — with Harris’ comments in North Carolina on the same day:
Common sense suggests that a political party will not maximize its chances of victory by running deep nominations. unpopular The 81-year-old is trailing badly in the polls, unable to reliably speak coherently, and believed by the vast majority of voters to be unfit to serve another term. And a casual reading of the available data says the same. Democrats should not be satisfied with a standard-bearer who can sometimes give off an impression of empty competence when speaking publicly. And Biden shouldn’t be satisfied with holding on An outside chance Beat Trump. The Democratic Party must field the strongest candidate possible this November, reducing the chances of an authoritarian insurgent taking power. Biden’s performance Thursday night confirmed that he is no longer that candidate.
