The impression that Biden gave off is certainly lost if you did not watch it live, as it happened, with no clue how it was going to go. 50M Americans also watched it live. I think you should consider that you could be fundamentally missing something in that.
2 Likes
Are they on the AO?
N+1
1 Like
I would be pretty happy if my vote for Biden could secure a not-Trump presidency.
1 Like
You would have to live in one of the swing states.
If the number of swing states just went up as a result of this alleged debacle, then a new choice might be necessary.
Be real nice if Biden were to step out on one condition: that Trump also steps out.
It’s also a long time until the election. I know fox news will be running clips nonstop, but not many of their viewers were never voting Biden anyway
Agreed. I’d love to see them both out. Don’t see that happening though. 
The issue i see is that unlike most debate flops, the age related one by an 81 year old is not going to get better as he gets older.
1 Like
I will settle for my vote negligibly cutting into Trump’s popular support.
1 Like
One thing people need to remember, on a lot of things: GoA and even the former AO is not representative of the American public. The group in the 10-25% range? Perhaps, but even if that’s the case that slice is vastly outnumbered by the bottom 75%.
It’s that group that you have to get into the mindset of. It’s looking at things in a very simplistic manner, very A-to-B, and not 3-dimensional, n-step like we’re used to. That group saw what President is describing: old, slow, frail guy asking for 4 more years who comes across like he’ll be lucky to get 4 more weeks. They’re not thinking “if he croaks, who’s his VP and what would I think of them?” They see “likely to be alive” and “unlikely to be alive” and undecideds - and there’s quite a number of them this time around - are going to choose the former.
“The salt of the earth… you know: morons.”
i think they call it “higher order effects”
The average voter GREATLY overestimate the powers that actually come with the title. The FedGovt is so friggin big. The machinery is operated by battalions of civil servants. The very idea that the Pres is able to manage the economy…what a joke.
The biggest leeway afforded POTUS is in the arena of foreign policy. And even there the Senate has to approve all treaties.
The biggest impact is the stage and the microphone. Leadership. And the debate really brings that into question. Can Biden use the office effectively? It is not wholly unlike the first point. Is he a good judge of expertise and character?
Still, he said he was there to beat Trump. And he did. But he also said we had to pass the baton to the younger generation. That he did not do. For me, that is perhaps the most unforgivable part. It’s like Gollum and The Ring.
And the mood of the electorate is not good. People want change. The economy is bad because my life sucks. Biden is not the guy of change. Trump is…heck he will be delighted to blow it up.
Which leaves the Congress. Will a lackluster Biden hurt the down ticket races? I think it will. And controlling Congress is where any change has to start. Maybe Sean Penn wants to take a swing?
4 Likes
Yes, this is important. Biden beat Trump once, and had good policy during his first term so he should easily bit him again are certainly valid thoughts to keep him in there.
The average American was also worried about electing a 78 year old then. On average, we barely agreed with putting in an aging moderate in the white house for the sake of healing the country after 4 years of Trump.
Biden had to make the case for 4 more years, that his first term accomplishments were so good that they justified the increased risk of his age. What he highlighted is that he is now too old to make that case effectively.
1 Like
I would not describe the concern that a candidate might be dead by inauguration as overly simplistic. Those voters are wondering what that path might even look like. When does Biden step down? Is Harris ready to take over today? None of that has been answered by the Biden campaign, and they have done little in 4 years to prepare the country for that.
People know what Trump will bring. They may not like Trump, but they have an expectation, and can decide if that is acceptable. All Biden told us is that he is old and left us guessing what happens next.
2 Likes
If you had asked me this question 50 years ago, I could have rattled off the names of a half dozen Moderate Republican or Democrat senators or governors whom I would have said would be an excellent POTUS. I now struggle to come up with names that are clearly more palatable than Biden to a broad electorate. The rosters are pretty thin currently.
I think if there were some really attractive Democratic candidates with national appeal the “Biden should step aside” movement would take off like a rocket. I see drawbacks to all the names being put forward.
2 Likes
Gretchen Whitmer and Wes Moore should both be objectively good choices. But I think people would invent reasons to critique them. Whitmer will be called shrill by people who definitely are not sexist. Definitely not.
4 Likes
People will have to invent reasons to critique them. With Biden, he served them up 90 minutes worth of content in front of a national televised audience.
2 Likes
It’s going to be difficult to replace Joe Biden, let’s be honest. Joe biden was a known commodity among african americans and they did turn up for him in 2020.
Kamala Harris would be a natural choice but she is simply not that popular and she did come off rather poorly at the beginning of Biden’s presidency. Remember she was polling at 6% during the democratic primary in 2020.
Objectively speaking, the democrats created this mess on their own by having delusions about Joe BIden’s mental acuity. Joe Biden needs to do the right thing and quit ASAP so the party can figure out what to do.
America watched two old white men yell stupid shit at each other for 90 minutes. Maybe someone who is not white, not old, and doesn’t yell stupid shit will be more appealing at this moment in time than she was 4 years ago when she was among the 2020 Democratic field answering actual questions about actual policy.
Harris can appeal to suburban women (with some help) and turn out the minority vote in key cities in swing states. Seems like an easy decision.