Jul 9, 2024 By Kent James 6 min read

I much prefer policy to politics, but if you don’t get the politics right, you don’t get a chance to do policy. President Biden was not my first choice to be the Democratic nominee in 2020, but Democratic voters picked him primarily because he was the most likely candidate to beat President Trump, and they were right. The politics worked.

Biden has been a good president, probably the most productive since Lyndon Johnson, and LBJ had large Democratic majorities in Congress. Critics claim he’s too old to be president; his record suggests otherwise, and his supporters have claimed that though he may stumble occasionally, he remains sharp as a tack.

The Biden team scheduled an early debate to put to rest questions about his age. Unfortunately, Biden’s debate performance was disastrous. If the goal was to prove his critics right, he exceeded expectations. His age may not prevent him from performing the duties of his office – both Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump were famously not overworked during their presidencies – but his age may prevent him from getting the chance, because he won’t be able to convince enough voters he can do the job.

Biden should do what to most politicians is unimaginable – withdraw from a race he thinks he can win. It is a lot to ask, and Biden is known for his ability to come back when knocked down. One of the toughest calls is to determine when a skilled, but aging athlete should retire. Is a bad game just a bad game, or is it the sign of an inevitable decline? In Biden’s case, even if it is simply one bad game – and his rally the next day provided evidence that that might be the case – if the voters think it’s inevitable decline, it’s a moot point. The voters will determine Biden’s electability, not his team; his team just needs to be able to foresee the politics of the campaign, which admittedly, is not easy.

The problem is that prior to the debate, Biden was already losing in the swing states, with his age being the primary concern, and the debate pushed that trend in the wrong direction. Even if it’s only a few points, they are points Biden can ill-afford to lose. Biden’s primary reason for running again was his proven ability to beat Trump. At a campaign event last November, he even said, “If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running.” But if Biden can no longer win, he should let someone who can beat Trump have a chance.

Biden can cement his legacy as a humble Cincinnatus, who came out of retirement to save democracy, or he can tarnish his legacy as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg did, when she failed to step down when she had the opportunity, leaving us the radically right-wing Supreme Court we have today.

If Biden cannot be convinced to retire, it will be difficult, and a mistake, for Democrats to remove him, since it would probably replicate the damage Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy did to President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election. If he steps aside, there are many up-and-coming Democrats who would be strong candidates.

Choosing a candidate at the convention is risky, but Democrats need to believe that the party is strong enough to pick a qualified replacement. One thing voters dislike about Democrats is they seem weak, afraid to act for fear of making a mistake, although the Republican Party’s complete acquiescence to Trump has certainly weakened the Republican brand. There are a lot of voters who don’t like either candidate, and if the Democrats can provide an alternative, they can win those votes, and the election.

Jim Zogby, a longtime member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), proposed having a qualifying process for potential candidates that would require they get 40 endorsements from members of the DNC, to limit the field to viable candidates, including some from each of the four regions, to demonstrate the candidate’s national appeal. Then, they should give the candidates a month to run their campaigns, ending with the selection of the nominee at the convention. Instead of stories leaked to the press about how Biden’s cognitive decline was progressing behind closed doors, the news would be dominated by the race. If the Democrats can run positive campaigns, that would be quite a contrast to Trump’s campaign, with its focus on America as a failed state.

While Biden stepping down might discourage some of his supporters from voting for his replacement, I think Biden voters would understand that the election is not about Biden as an individual; the issues are much bigger than that, and they would vote accordingly. Democrats believe that people working together using the right process can solve problems; this is where they need to have the courage of their convictions and demonstrate that.

Democrats who want Biden to stay in the race argue it should be the convicted felon and pathological liar who stands down for the good of the country, not Biden, and of course, they’re right. The reason that’s not happening is because Trump sacrificing his own ambition for the good of the country will never happen, which is one of the many reasons he’s not qualified to be president. Given that, even if Biden chooses to remain in the race, I will strongly support him.

Perhaps Biden can take an independently administered cognitive test and put the results online for everyone to see, and it should not be Trump’s “Person, woman, man, camera, TV” charade. If Biden can show voters he’s up to the job, I have no doubt he is. In the current political environment, though, the Democrats are more likely to win with a younger candidate leading the ticket.

It would be better for the Democrats and the country if instead of an election season spent defending Biden’s fitness for the job, it was about contrasting a positive agenda for the country to fend off Trump’s campaign of retribution.

Kent James is a member of East Washington’s borough council.