With all due respect I appreciate the attempt at spin-doctoring what happened and giving an outlet for Biden, but I cannot conceive of how a cold warrants that performance for anyone who suffered through watching that. Even Trump did better while actively having COVID on stage back in the 2020 debates.
Many of us have been sounding the alarm of events like this that were matter-of-factly non-existent during, say, then-VP Biden’s debates with the likes of Paul Ryan. I get why there’s incumbent inertia behind Biden, but now is very little data that portends a good end to this election for Biden, relative to his standings in 2020.
In order to viably attain the “undecided” swing-voters, we need to meet them half-way and give them an outlet that doesn’t place them into a dichotomous situation of voting for two people they clearly do not like.
Not really trying to “spin-doctor,” because your concerns are legit. It’s not just that he had a cold, after all. He may exercise regularly and be in good shape for an octogenarian, but he’s still an octogenarian. Being sick likely means head and chest congestion, exhaustion, and a temperature - and those combined with the kind of speech impediment that gets worse when its sufferer is under stress… Well, it’s not a good thing. It results in performances like last night. As he ages, perfect storms of bad luck like that will occur more often, and eventually his age will fully catch up to him.
We need to acknowledge things like that.
At the same time, we need to acknowledge that all in all, he’s been a remarkably good president under extremely trying circumstances, and his predecessor - hopefully not his successor - is a felon and a con artist who will open the door for a fascist takeover of this country.
One is too old. The other is a nightmare and the death of this country.
These are all fair points and points I’m sure to raise in the months ahead should Biden remain the nominee, but the way I see it is that polls haven’t budged; aggregate approval rating for Biden continues to decline. We can argue how much this debate hurt Biden, but we can all agree it certainly did not help. And if it didn’t help, what else can be done and said that hasn’t already been done and said over the past years? Polling isn’t just hard to budge positively, but it’s actively trending opposite to what we need, relative to Biden’s position in 2020. If the case of saying, “look it’s between the old guy, and the fascist twice-impeached convicted felon with 3 more trials to go and who tried to overturn a free and fair election” hasn’t worked yet, what makes anyone think it’s going to work in the coming months? Hel this desperation is what led the Biden campaign to accept this debate in the first place – a risk gambit that simply did not pay off. A tough sell.
So what do we do?
Well, in my view Democrats restore some trust by Biden publicly and voluntarily acknowledging the situation head-on, stepping down, and opening up the convention. Democrats nominate someone half-ways young and charismatic – Whitmer, Booker, Newsom, Buttigieg – I don’t particularly care – and I think the freshness of a face and the addressing of youth will be enough to sway swing voters.
With all due respect I appreciate the attempt at spin-doctoring what happened and giving an outlet for Biden, but I cannot conceive of how a cold warrants that performance for anyone who suffered through watching that. Even Trump did better while actively having COVID on stage back in the 2020 debates.
Many of us have been sounding the alarm of events like this that were matter-of-factly non-existent during, say, then-VP Biden’s debates with the likes of Paul Ryan. I get why there’s incumbent inertia behind Biden, but now is very little data that portends a good end to this election for Biden, relative to his standings in 2020.
In order to viably attain the “undecided” swing-voters, we need to meet them half-way and give them an outlet that doesn’t place them into a dichotomous situation of voting for two people they clearly do not like.
Not really trying to “spin-doctor,” because your concerns are legit. It’s not just that he had a cold, after all. He may exercise regularly and be in good shape for an octogenarian, but he’s still an octogenarian. Being sick likely means head and chest congestion, exhaustion, and a temperature - and those combined with the kind of speech impediment that gets worse when its sufferer is under stress… Well, it’s not a good thing. It results in performances like last night. As he ages, perfect storms of bad luck like that will occur more often, and eventually his age will fully catch up to him.
We need to acknowledge things like that.
At the same time, we need to acknowledge that all in all, he’s been a remarkably good president under extremely trying circumstances, and his predecessor - hopefully not his successor - is a felon and a con artist who will open the door for a fascist takeover of this country.
One is too old. The other is a nightmare and the death of this country.
These are all fair points and points I’m sure to raise in the months ahead should Biden remain the nominee, but the way I see it is that polls haven’t budged; aggregate approval rating for Biden continues to decline. We can argue how much this debate hurt Biden, but we can all agree it certainly did not help. And if it didn’t help, what else can be done and said that hasn’t already been done and said over the past years? Polling isn’t just hard to budge positively, but it’s actively trending opposite to what we need, relative to Biden’s position in 2020. If the case of saying, “look it’s between the old guy, and the fascist twice-impeached convicted felon with 3 more trials to go and who tried to overturn a free and fair election” hasn’t worked yet, what makes anyone think it’s going to work in the coming months? Hel this desperation is what led the Biden campaign to accept this debate in the first place – a risk gambit that simply did not pay off. A tough sell.
So what do we do?
Well, in my view Democrats restore some trust by Biden publicly and voluntarily acknowledging the situation head-on, stepping down, and opening up the convention. Democrats nominate someone half-ways young and charismatic – Whitmer, Booker, Newsom, Buttigieg – I don’t particularly care – and I think the freshness of a face and the addressing of youth will be enough to sway swing voters.
I do hope that happens. A graceful exit for Biden and a fresh-faced nominee could very well be the thing we need.