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Let's Be Real. Who Tells Biden the Debate Tanked Election Chances? He Can Still Release Delegates. [1]

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Date: 2024-06-28  

Joe Biden is one of the great presidents of our time, perhaps the best since LBJ. I supported him avidly in 2020 (after Kamala Harris, my original choice, dropped out), with time and money. President Biden did not disappoint. He repaired our vital alliances that Trump almost destroyed, supported Ukraine’s vital defense of Democracy and got NATO allies to do the same, and withdrew from senseless decades-old Asian land wars. He passed legislation to protect the environment, to bolster infrastructure, to support American technology, and to improve child care and education. He fought the good fight for women’s rights to choose, for sensible firearm regulation, to cancel crippling student debt, and much more. He created more jobs than any president in a four-year period.

But serving successfully as President and getting re-elected require different skill sets. A campaign for president requires not statecraft as much as performance art. Last night proved that Biden is no longer up to the latter task. Slightly behind, Biden needed to change the trajectory of the race in the first debate in which his own campaign set the rules. He did change it, for the worse, from a close race to a free-fall. Worse, his performance last night displayed a man looking and sounding much older than his 81 years. (This is not an ageist comment: I am 86.) The chances of this decent man winning against criminal fascist liar Trump dropped like a plumb bob. Denying this does not help find a solution. Experienced Democrats who do not see this are living on another planet.

It is too late for anyone to mount a challenge. It is not too late for Biden to see what is happening and release his delegates to an open convention. It will not be a happy spectacle, but there is a “great bench” among Democrats a generation or two younger: Governors Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, Wes Moore, and Gavin Newsom are just four prominent examples. A new face such as any of these would likely defeat Donald Trump, thus saving democracy. An old face like Vice President Kamala Harris, much as I like and admire her, is apt to fail, as she has never proven to be good at electoral-performance skills (think her failed 2020 primary campaign).

A delegation of elders would have to visit President Biden to explain this to him and soon. Former President Obama should be in that delegation. Others can include people who were unquestionably loyal to President Biden, including one or two Democratic senators from red states who are running for re-election. It is our best chance, perhaps our only chance.

This is not time for sentiment, not time to fool ourselves. This may be, again, our only chance.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/28/2249377/-Let-s-Be-Real-Who-Tells-Biden-the-Debate-Tanked-Election-Chances-He-Can-Still-Release-Delegates?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

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