There’s no way to sugarcoat President Joe Biden’s debate performance Thursday night: It was a disaster. He grumbles, grumbles and fails at Donald Trump’s lies and threats to democracy. By Friday morning, liberal commentators around the country were calling for Biden to resign — and, behind closed doors, Many Democrats were saying the same thing.
In the midst of this gloom, I found a ray of hope from an unusual source: Asted Herndon, a New York Times reporter who was For months, Biden has been grappling with the political risks of age (And acceptance A lot of democratic fire to do this). After being proven right spectacularly Thursday night, Herndon didn’t take a victory lap — he looked to the future.
“I don’t think the election is over. I think it’s just getting started,” He wrote on Twitter/X. “We’re finally out [delusion] stage Both the country and the team.”
Herndon’s comment not only cuts against the teeth-grinding chorus, but suggests it why Not everything can be destroyed. If we really were under a lot of confusion about the power of Biden’s campaign and now it’s ending, it opens up new possibilities for the 2024 election.
And not only that. If the Democratic Party proves capable of persuading Biden to step down in favor of a more inspiring candidate, it might even help address deep concerns about the country’s future.
Biden is a sign of national decline
For months – maybe even years – American politics Immersed in discomfort.
There are many reasons: chronic Anger over inflation. The Epidemic legacy. deep and Seemingly complex polarization.
But I think a big part of it was the inspiring prospect of a Trump-Biden rematch.
Poll after poll showed that Americans were unhappy with the prospect of a 2020 rematch. Most people in the country did not want this choice and still do not want it. It’s conventional wisdom that “double haters” — voters who dislike both Biden and Trump — The most decisive swing voter in the 2024 election.
We all know what this horrible matchup is going to be. Although Trump is unpopular with the public and GOP elites, he has an unyielding hold on the Republican base. And although Biden is even less popular, no serious Democrat would risk torpedoing the party’s general election prospects against Trump by launching a bitter primary challenge that they will almost certainly lose.
But the fact that it is this way is exactly the problem. When political parties offer people choices they hate, for whatever reason, people become (more) disillusioned with their effectiveness. the “hollow groups,” as two political scientists recently described them, feel like another symptom of America’s larger political breakdown.
Biden’s departure as a (potential) symbol of national renewal
The most plausible scenario is that Biden simply weathers the current PR storm and stays atop the ticket. If that happens without him something To single-handedly prove the disaster of the debate, it will only ensure that the institutions designed to protect American democracy crumble like everything else.
“We have institutions to manage this. Biden can simply resign. But we can also have an open conference. The party can nominate someone else. But institutions are as moribund as candidates: they haven’t seen use in years. Author John Ganz Observed on Friday morning.
But at the same time, something feels off different About the current wave of pressure to get Biden out of the race.
In February, after special counsel Robert Huh released a report that found Biden’s memory impaired, most liberals and Democrats insisted the president was being discredited. After the debate, the liberal opinion-making world is in lockstep: Joe Must Go. And the citations Anonymous Democrats are giving Associated Press are unprecedented.
“I think the president has a week to prove he’s not dead,” said one swing-state congressman. Matt Yglesias of Slow Boring.
Combined with this level of panic, you can imagine a scenario someone from Biden’s inner circle Telling him the truth, may reach the President and convince him that his time is up. Suddenly, the idea of Biden leaving has left the realm of fantasy and entered the murky world of uncertain possibility.
In such a situation, the Democratic Party can avoid the chaos of a nasty primary or a contested convention; Biden, in consultation with other party leaders, may choose a successor and endorse them. It will take months for the party to rally behind Whoever it is: Vice President Kamala Harris, a cabinet member like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, or a popular and successful governor like Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer. In a team dominated by boomers led by Washington, its young bench is surprisingly deep.
This will do more than improve the Democratic Party’s chances against Trump: It will show Americans that their institutions can actually do amazing and even impressive things. It would provide strong evidence that we are not stuck in a downward spiral of political sclerosis, that the unexpected can happen and sometimes it can actually be good.
I certainly don’t want to suggest that replacing Biden will fix everything, either for Democrats narrowly or for the country more broadly. No matter how close the election in our polarized system; The country’s problems run deeper than two old men running for president.
But it’s important not to let realism slip into nihilism. Just because few things have changed American politics of late doesn’t mean nothing can. And we shouldn’t underestimate the importance of the person in the top job: the mere fact of Barack Obama’s identity has changed American politics on such a profound level That we still do not fully grapple with the consequences.
It’s rare to see a clear path to reboot American politics. But Biden’s disastrous debate performance has created an opening for one. It’s up to him to take it.
