Littwin: It’s time for Joe Biden to step away
Joe Biden must step aside.
And soon.
He said at a rally on Friday to cheering supporters that whatever critics might say, he had no intention of giving up or giving in. Let's hope by Monday that he understands the world, the real world, has irrevocably changed. It's his choice, of course, but after the debate, it doesn't seem like a choice at all.
And Biden must take the step while there is enough time — although there is dangerously little time left — for a Biden alternative to mount a successful defense of American democracy.
I don't say this lightly. I don't say this thinking it would be easy (it wouldn't). I don't say this because I think Biden has been a bad president.
And, worse, I don't say this with any clear idea of what would happen next, only that whatever happens, it would be worth the risk. Doing nothing, at this point, is not an option.
If Democrats choose to open their Chicago convention in August to a free-for-all, it would obviously be chaotic and very likely bring back memories of another Democratic convention in Chicago. That 1968 convention put an end to the bad old smoke-filled-room days and opened the way for voters, though primaries, to pick their nominees.
But an open convention this time wouldn't be a step backward. It would be a giant step forward. And the potential of chaos in Chicago pales when compared to the certain chaos of a revenge-filled second Trump term in office.
Who might the Democrats nominate if Biden releases his delegates? There are many choices, none of them with the baggage that Biden now carries. You know the names. Gavin Newsom. Gretchen Whitmer. Josh Shapiro. One of the 2020 Democratic primary losers.
It's obvious what must happen. But it's not obvious how it might happen or even if it will happen. Some of the people who know Biden well — including Obama-era Democratic insiders like David Axelrod and David Plouffe — have said they think Biden will never willingly give up.
They might be right in normal times, but does anyone actually remember when times were normal?
It's not so long ago that many Democrats were heartened by Biden's effective State of the Union speech. He seemed, at that point, to put the age issue to rest. He was good enough that Trump had to invent the curious excuse that Biden was somehow on drugs, as if there were a miracle drug to temporarily cure cognitive decline.
But on Thursday, 50 million or so watched Biden falter without any help, or heckling, from Trump, who didn't need to bully Biden or once mention imaginary drugs. He didn't need to do anything, although that didn't stop him from lying at will.
What was most telling about the debate is that any show with Trump involved is almost always entirely about Trump. But this time it was all about Biden, and not in a good way. Not in a good way at all.
We shouldn't care about Biden's ego or his feelings. Biden's most important remaining job is to help figure out how best to defeat Trump. And in Thursday's debate, Biden made a very strong case, an inarguable case, a terrifyingly powerful case, that he is not up to the task.
Meanwhile, Trump was making the inarguable case that a second MAGA presidency would be a disaster beyond reckoning.
If Biden stepped down, he would have the chance, as he took in 2020, to be a selfless, putting-the-country-first hero, and not just another politician stuck in the all- too-typical narcissistic cycle.
Only Biden can decide. But the people who are close to him can help him get there, starting with Jill Biden and others in the Biden family. Certainly Barack Obama. Maybe a congressional delegation led by Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. Chris Coons, the Delaware senator. And the most effective person from outside Biden's family might be Rep. Jim Clyburn, who rescued Biden's campaign in 2020.
If they tell Biden the news privately and that doesn't convince him, people have to be willing to go public and keep up the pressure. It's that important.
The debate put everything into the sharpest possible focus. Trump spent a night spewing lie after lie, CNN moderators chose to ignore lie after lie, and Biden seemed helpless — voice muffled, mind confused, arguments weakly delivered, mouth shown agape in a split-screen horror show — to counter the Trumpian lies.
You knew two minutes into the debate that the game was over, and that Biden had nothing left on his fastball.
The clips aren't misleading this time. Republicans don't have to fake images of Biden looking dazed and confused. They've got the receipts.
Here's Biden on the pandemic, which should have been an easy entry to hammer Trump: "[We're] making sure that we're able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I've been able to do with —" Biden said, before adding, "the COVID — excuse me, with — dealing with everything we have to do with — look — if — we finally beat Medicare."
There was more Biden word salad on abortion, on the border, on so much. If Biden, as some say, got stronger as the debate went on, I can only say at the end Biden got into an old-man-style back and forth with Trump over who can drive a golf ball farther. Should Scottie Scheffler be president?
The Trump lies included many of his peculiar Trumpian delusions, ones that no other president would ever offer — including those about migrants being housed in 5-star hotels or babies being killed after birth or Biden having encouraged Putin to attack Ukraine or Nancy Pelosi being somehow to blame for the January 6 assault on the Capitol. It's the stuff of Trump campaign rallies that turns into what passes for political debate in 2024.
These delusions — actually, they're not all delusions; some are just manufactured lies that half the country seems ready to believe — would be disqualifying for anyone else hoping to be president.
But Biden didn't make that case. He couldn't make the case when Trump dodged nearly every question, including simple ones like what he might do about child care. Biden wanted a June debate for a chance to change the narrative of the race, which looked essentially tied, with Biden gaining slightly after Trump's latest conviction.
But as electoral analyst Nate Silver pointed out before the debate, Trump was actually further ahead than most people understood. In our hyper-polarized time, Biden might lose only a few points after this debate. But a few points on Election Day would mean Trump wins.
As Biden said after the debate, it's hard to take on a liar. But what he didn't say — and what is clear — is that it would be hard to do a less effective job debating a liar than Biden did. Among liberal media pundits, this seemed to be a near-unanimous opinion.
At his rally Friday, Biden argued, in forceful language one day after his weak-voiced debate, that he can still govern. Maybe he can. Almost certainly he could govern better than Trump, who, remember, is only three years younger than Biden.
But does it matter if he can still govern? If Biden can't beat Trump, he will no longer have the chance.
Biden, who had spent most of his adult life trying to become president, made a huge bet when he ran in 2020 and he won. He deserves all the credit for that. He saved the country from another Trump term once. But he has only to look to recent history. We saw what happened when revered Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stayed in the game too long. Look at the many troubling rulings from the Supreme Court on Friday.
Now there are no bets left to make and, more to the point, there are no bets left to hedge. All bets are off.
If Biden and the Democrats don't do the right thing, they would deserve to lose. But it's not about Biden or the Democrats.
This election is about what Biden always says it's about — the fate of our democracy. If he really believes that, he must know what to do next. He gets another chance to be a hero. All he has to do is take it.
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