Biden Blew Last Night’s Debate. What Democrats’ Next Move Should Be?

The president performed as badly as you’re going to see in modern times, but the Democrats still can win by replacing Biden with the ideal of the presidency as a symbol for Democracy

June 28, 2024

The President performed poorly in the June 27, Presidential Debate in Atlanta, Ga at the CNN Studios. Valeria Ferraro / Anadolu via Getty Images

President Joe Biden performed poorly in last night’s debate. All he had to do was to do no harm. He failed miserably. Not only did he harm himself, he harmed the Democratic Party, and those who rightfully fear four more years of the autocratic, multiple convicted, narcissistic ex-president.

Biden looked much older than his 81 years of age. He was inaudible, incoherent, and exhibited low energy much of the night. There were glimpses of the old Biden during the after debate events, but by then all the damage had been done. Democrats were thoroughly embarrassed before a global television audience of world leaders and smirking Republicans at home who must have felt by the end of the debate that their candidate had made a mockery of someone with apparent features of cognitive decline. Even the liberal-leaning commentators on MSNBC couldn’t hide their angst.

As bad as Biden performed last night, Democrats should not throw in the towel just yet. The election is in November, we are still in the month of June. Voters in the United States have a binary decision to make between two deeply flawed candidates: Trump, a corrupt multiple convicted felon and Biden, someone who has shown signs of progressive cognitive decline. Both candidates ran for the wrong reasons. Trump was looking to avoid prosecution; Biden refused to admit to himself that the greatest way to honor a life of service is to nurture and pass on the baton to the next generation of leaders. We all have our limits and our bodies and minds will tell us when our serving days are done.

To be sure, the Democrats have earned another term in office. The Inflation Reduction Act helped the Biden-Harris administration create 15 million jobs since the president took office. More manufacturing jobs than in 30 years. Unemployment has hovered around 4 percent including record lows among African Americans and other national minorities. The CHIPS and Science Act allowed for billions of dollars in loans and grants to be given to U.S. companies to make semiconductors in America instead of in China. Gas prices are down by $1.60 since peak prices in 2022. Billions have been spent to clean up contaminated brownfields  many in or near communities where people of color live. Much has been spent to reduce pollutants and reduce emissions leading to climate change. Biden and most Democrats support a woman’s right to choose. The list is much longer.

But the problem is Democrats have never controlled the narrative. If Democrats are to win in November they must define themselves, promote their accomplishments, and not leave this to the Trump-obsessed media and conservatives. The Republicans have managed to make this an election about Biden’s health fitness for office rather than Trump’s moral fitness to lead.

Democrats must energetically sell the idea that the presidency is not about one individual; rather, it is about the institution of the presidency. The president in the U.S. is a symbol of the office but not the office in and of itself. Behind the president are thousands of smart, dedicated public servants who govern and literally make America great every day. They generate creative and innovative ideas. They solve big, complex problems. They pursue peaceful and diplomatic solutions to conflict, and, when necessary, they suit up, pick up a rifle and stand post. They offer their lives for the preservation of important principles like freedom, justice, and liberty.

The presidency is an ideal that stands for, or should stand for, equality, fairness, and Democracy with a big D. Above all, the presidency symbolizes the country’s belief in The Rule of Law. America ceases to be America, as much as this may be an allusion of how we like to see ourselves, if it elects a convicted criminal as the head of state. If Trump is elected then we will send notice to the world that we are no longer a nation that respects the rule of law. America will be revealed to be just what 50 million Black citizens have always known it to be: A criminal empire that has stolen the labor of its most vulnerable citizens and refuses to repair or acknowledge its sins.

So the fragile coalition that calls itself Democrats must quickly get its act together. It must proclaim and promote the truth that neither this election, nor the presidency, is about Biden. It is about democratic norms, democratic institutions, and the rule of law. Biden obviously is a poor messenger for all that the presidency implies, but he is all we got. Talk about ditching him and finding alternatives is just–pardon the pun–trumpery. If we had 12 months, perhaps, but believing we can find a “consensus” candidate that everyone will agree to in the few months that lie ahead before the election is highly unlikely. The process would be extremely divisive.

The bottom line is that most people who read this column who supported Biden before the debate, will vote for him in November. That is beside the point; the question is, how will last night’s performance motivate or demotivate the many young and swing voters who Biden has yet to earn. Despite his bumbling performance on the debate stage and his tone-deaf throwdown for Israel in the protracted war against the Palestinian people, as tragic as that is, young voters must hold their noses and vote for him because sitting out this election is tantamount to voting for Trump.

I am not ready to throw in the towel on a good, but diminished, public servant who has overstayed his welcome. I believe we saw the real Biden last night. He was not the candidate who debated Trump four years ago nor was he the white-haired, spirited, pugilist who took on Marjorie Taylor Green and company during last March’s State of the Union address. God forbid that Biden dies in office and Kamala Harris ascends to the seat of the president. I am not worried a bit about her fitness to serve, and you shouldn’t be either. I am sure she would be ready on day one to be our Commander in Chief. And besides that, as I have argued, it is not about an individual; it’s about the ideal of the presidency as a symbol of democracy and the rule of law. Last night’s debate didn’t change that. Democrats and independents would be wise to keep that in mind.