Concerning whether Biden should run or not
Either way, that bad debate performance was not all his fault
For weeks CNN had been drumming up interest in the debate. Then about two weeks before the debate I began to wonder if there was any other news in the world. By the weekend before the debate it was almost all-debate all-the-time, with full-screen shots of the stage, the fancy podiums where the two men would stand and how close together they were, and so on. At one point an anchor said that after the next commercial break we would learn something interesting about the microphones. That piqued my interest; was there a new high-tech mic developed just for the debate? No. The interesting thing was that the mics would be muted after each of them finished his comments. But we’d already been told that dozens of times before.
I do like CNN, but I wish its leadership had given a little more thought to how much added stress this nonstop hyping of the debate might have caused for Biden. If its reply would be he should be up to it, I say no, that’s not correct in this case.
Just think about this: you’re the President and you’ve spent much of your time giving the American people everything good you can possibly manage to arrange for them, yet they don’t feel it yet in their daily lives and some don’t even know what you’ve done. This is made worse by your opponent’s chronic lying, which is becoming more unhinged (along with the man himself) every week. Meanwhile you’ve been dealing with at least two major wars, and with increasing fires, tornadoes, floods, record numbers of mass shootings, inability to get all the help you want to give to Americans passed because of an ever more extremist “Christian” faction in Congress. All this, and an opponent who is (as far as I can tell) fast becoming one of the most feared and hated men on earth. Yet his numbers poll better than yours.
You know your opponent is dangerous, so dangerous that the world is trembling, hoping you make a great showing in this debate. You believe that if you fail, you’ll be failing the country and much of the rest of the world: Ukraine will be lost, Taiwan will be next, the tyrants of the world will become more threatening than ever, basic rights at home will continue to be lost to satisfy the misogynistic and bigoted right wing, and that’s just the beginning, and it’s all on you.
So you agree to let over a dozen people take over your preparation, not for, say, three days with breaks in between. No, they insist that you need day in day out practice for an entire week with hardly any let-up. You not only have to keep all your thoughts together, knowing how your opponent will deflect, get off-subject, lie, and hurl insults at you. You are made to prepare for the possibly controlled version of your opponent, or for the unleashed crazy guy he often becomes.
You begin to get tired because (I’m assuming now) practicing night and day with all the coaching makes it hard to get a good night’s sleep. You’re wound up, you’re worried, you know he’s cruel and uncaring, and you’re a decent nice guy. You know you need to bully back at him but it truly is not in your nature. You just want to get your work done and make people’s lives and the world a better place. Instead you have to joust with a tyrant maniac who lies and often uses sheer nastiness to get what he wants and to make his base more bloodthirsty than it already is.
So, as it might with any human being in this situation, your immune system gets a little overworked. You’re catching a cold and your voice is going, or your voice is just going anyway because you’re having to practice yelling at your opponent for days on end with all these experts coaching you. Again the world is trembling while you try to get through this.
On top of that, one of the guest commentators on CNN suggested that the debaters should not be fact checked during the debate. (When I heard that, I felt anxious. Really? On stage with the lying Trump—no fact check then and there?) Right—no fact check till later. So you know that if he starts lying, as you’re almost certain he will, you will have to answer every lie, and do it cleverly so you can compete with his rather nauseating “entertainer” persona.
Finally, the debate is at 9 pm. Why so late? People have to go to work the next day. They may only watch for 15 minutes. You have to be brilliant immediately at 9 o’clock! And ideally stay that way for an hour and a half with a man who thinks war heroes are suckers and losers, a liar and a cheat who must certainly disgust you, and from whom you must save the world if possible.
So of course you’re stressed to the max, exhausted, your voice is nearly gone, and when the lights come up you feel the weight of that world on your shoulders.
While I appreciate the efforts of those who tried to prepare Biden, I do blame them for a lot of this. If, as I’m guessing, there was not enough downtime during the preparation (described in painful detail by the media), there should have been a doctor or psychiatric social worker present to say “hey, that’s enough for today” to the helpers, and I’d have said that if Biden were only 40 years old. Sleep and calm would have been essential, and I get the feeling there wasn’t much of either. I also partly blame CNN for the constant pressure that must have been caused by the endless focus on the debate. It seemed too much and I think was unwise, and even unkind.
As for the future, while Biden gave a magnificent speech the next day, and may continue to do so, I think he will feel more of the same kind of pressure in the September debate I think he’s planning to do. There could be a similar problem or a stutter or hesitation during other speeches. I don’t think such moments should keep Biden from being a great President, which is what I believe he’s been mostly, up to now. But apparently many Americans have not taken the time needed to understand what both these men have or have not accomplished, so that one bad TV appearance has failed to give close to an accurate accounting of those important truths. They may still not learn about all the good Biden has done for us and for the world. If that problem can’t be solved, I guess we will in fact need to find a very competent younger person to take his place. But I wish that were not so, and I feel terrible even writing it.
The goal has to be, ultimately, to save our country and the world from Trump, so Biden must be honest with himself and decide, soon, whether he can possibly get his beloved work done, the work he does for us and the world, while also fighting off the lies and distractions caused by Trump and his strangely worshipful base. That they consider him a savior and some compare him to Jesus (and therefore think he can do no wrong) is truly terrifying. But this is the awful situation Biden and we must face.
If we do have to find a replacement, here are some names I’ve seen so far: VP Kamala Harris, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, California governor Gavin Newsom, Ohio senator Sherrod Brown, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, Illinois governor JB Pritzker, Colorado governor Jared Polis, Georgia senator Raphael G. Warnock, Minnesota senator Amy Kobluchar, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Michelle Obama, and Hillary Clinton.
Terry I answered you but it looks like it didn't arrive. Did you get it? My computer's been crashing a lot.
Hi Terry, I do not believe Biden is in any more of a decline than Trump, who has made just as many if not more word salads and disconnected statements (his base doesn't care though, and the Dems don't focus on it enough). Many of us here believe Trump is not mentally sound, and an expert on our politics working now in the UK as it happens (sorry forgot his name) agreed with many historians here that the amount of lies spewed by Trump in that debate was truly stunning; he called it "Orwellian." Trump's niece Mary, a psychologist, thinks he's incredibly unbalanced and dangerous herself.
But yes many here do believe that most Americans, as I tried to communicate, don't see all that Biden has done for them, and see someone who looks old and stutters (which is part of the pausing you see so often.) Sadly everything solid that Biden said is not being repeated on social media or any media much; only the gaffes are, and that's the biggest problem. As I wrote, I still think Biden could do the job. But over the last few hours I've realized Biden may not be able to win due to how the news is covered. Also the Supreme Court and other judges appointed by Trump continue to make things easier for him concerning his criminal trials (the Supreme Court is extremely politicized now except for three judges). Anyway I've moved toward choosing someone new ONLY because many Americans haven't, as I said in the post, realized the full extent of what he's done for this country and for undoing the damage Trump did to many of our alliances with other countries. Some people I trust said today that they worry about how one of the great governors such as Gretchen Whitmer can prepare quickly enough for a campaign, and that most of them have never run the kind of campaign required. So it's risky both ways--sticking with Biden or possibly seeing chaos at the Democratic convention coming up. The expert now in the UK who was interviewed today said we have two terrible choices. He thinks the least terrible is the mess it could be if we start over with a new candidate. I think now he might be right, but only because of how the media covers these things and how many Americans just haven't been paying much attention until now. Still that man and many other commentators here do think Biden would continue to be a good president even though he may not debate well any longer. Biden spoke strongly and clearly at that rally the next day, and I believe that he's spoken quite well in several meetings around the world recently. I also believe that from behind his desk he does great things for this country and for the world. But it's becoming clear he may not be electable anyway. I have indeed come around to being able to say I will support whoever they choose if he doesn't run, but no one can stop him but himself, his wife Jill, or maybe his sister. What MUST happen, no matter what, is that Trump be kept far from the White House. As it is, no matter who runs against him, he will not accpet the outcome unless he wins. If he loses he'll cry voter fraud, etc. and likely bring out violent groups like the Proud Boys. (He got away with it once so why not?) So it's going to be awful unless it's a total landslide--but even then he will fight it to the end. He's truly power mad, NOT a patriot at all, and only and always out for No. 1.