Biden blew past the graceful exit marker

JOE BIDEN AND A SMALL GROUP of his protectors want to make this all about them.

They want Biden to be able to exit in a “dignified” way. They are annoyed at the “elites” who underestimated or sidelined him in the past and, as Biden himself said, “think they know so much more.” They are mad that he’s being “railroaded” by aides to Barack Obama—and maybe Obama himself. They “DETEST” the fact that people are downtalking him to the media.

It’s a bunch of self-indulgent malarkey.

[...]

This campaign is not about Joe Biden, the man.

  The Bulwark

But that's what he's - or they're - making it.

It is not about Joe Biden’s feelings. And it sure as shit is not about Joe Biden’s legacy, something nobody in this country gives more than two minutes’ thought to besides people with the last name Biden, a coterie of pop historians whose opinion the president cares about, Sam Stein, and a handful of social media influencers that the campaign has paid to care. (And, either way, his legacy is consumed by this humiliating defeat if he doesn’t change course.)

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The vast majority of the 81 million people who turned out to support their candidate in 2020 did so not because they had some special affinity for his narrative arc but because they wanted to cast a ballot for someone, anyone, who was able to build a large enough coalition to give an Aussie-style booting to the most noxious and polarizing person in all of American public life.

And at the end of a contentious primary practical, earnest Democrats determined that Joe Biden was the big-ass boot they needed. No more, no less.

Those earnest democrats were the people who were running against him in the primary debates - with the exception of Bernie Sanders, who now apparently is holding out for Biden.

[T]he 2024 election is once again about galvanizing a coalition to beat Donald Trump. And since it comes after the horrors of January 6th—and with the Supreme Court codifying broad immunity for whoever occupies the Oval Office—that task is even more serious this time.

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Before the debate, the Biden high command demonstrated it understood all this.

Biden’s team made the preservation of democracy central to this election. His closest adviser, Mike Donilon, said as much in an interview with the New Yorker earlier this year.

They also were aware that a huge swath of the country is skeptical that Biden is up to the task. After all, the Biden campaign proposed the earliest televised presidential debate in American history precisely to demonstrate that. They wanted to use it to turn the focus of this election onto Trump’s lies and his unfitness.

It was the biggest tactical catastrophe in modern campaign history.

And one I cannot understand. These people were around him every day. How could they have been unaware of the possibility that what happened would happen?

IN THE FALLOUT FROM THAT disaster, Biden has done nothing to alleviate those concerns. He has stumbled in interviews and failed to enunciate a compelling anti-Trump contrast message unless it’s written into the teleprompter. Surveys asking Americans about his fitness for office continue to get worse and Trump’s lead in the head-to-head continues to expand.

When Lester Holt asked Biden if he would accept another opportunity to debate Trump to demonstrate that the first night had been a fluke, he declined, clearly demonstrating a lack of confidence in his abilities to prosecute the case.

As this slow-motion calamity has unfolded, Biden and those around him have let their egos and their desire to protect the boss’s image disorient their own stated mission.

And, their boss's image is out. And it's bad. They could not protect it. They're now reinforcing the bad image.

At one point, the Biden team said that they wanted to run a campaign that contrasted “a candidate who cares about you and a candidate who cares about himself.

And now we have TWO candidates who only seem to care about themselves.

nstead of focusing on the country’s problems, they have become consumed with the psychodrama surrounding their boss. They have engaged in a vigorous battle not against their opponent but against allies who they believe aren’t giving him the respect to which he is entitled.

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The American presidency is not an honorary position passed down to the successor in a bloodline. It is not the rightful reward of a Great Man.

Which is exactly what it's seemed in campaigns since Obama's presidency. On both sides (as they say).

It is a powerful job that We the People entrust to one of our fellow citizens—with the expectation that that person will carry out their duties honorably, judiciously, and in accordance with the promises made to us.

To be fair, I'm not sure anyone has that expectation any more.

We have no obligation to blow up the country to give someone who’s “earned it” one last run around the track. It is not the Oscars lifetime achievement award. It is not a farewell tour for an aging athlete who shared their talents with a city and deserves some flowers from adoring fans.

I'll happily provide the flowers if he'll retire.

That individual’s personal journey is irrelevant to the concerns of voters.

We do not owe the president anything. But the president owes their best to us.

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President Biden should pass the torch, do everything in his power to help his successor finish the job, and worry about his legacy next January when he hands the keys to the White House to a younger successor.

Amen.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 01:20 pm:  He did it!