President Joe Biden with his supporters after the debate with Donald Trump.
Photo: EFE – EDWARD M. PIO RODA
The days of the Democratic Party playing the youth card are long gone. From a John F. Kennedy who dazzled Richard Nixon in the first televised presidential debate in the United States, through a Bill Clinton who captivated generation X to a charismatic Barack Obama who marked a milestone by becoming the first African-American president, today The bet is on a presidential candidate “who is not coherent and feels lost,” in the words of Professor Alejandro Bohórquez-Keeney, professor of International Relations at the Externado University of Colombia.
As soon as Thursday night’s debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was over, American media began reporting on the commotion taking place in the blue tents. “Painful,” “terrifying,” and other adjectives were used by commentators live and on social media to describe the development of a premature face-to-face —since neither of the two has been officially nominated by their party— between a convicted ex-president, accused of lying during the hour-and-a-half encounter moderated by CNN, and, on the other hand, a sitting president who constantly misspoke and found himself in a bind to finish several sentences with complete meaning.
His main supporters, such as First Lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, came to his defense. The former, in a public event after the debate, congratulated him for having answered all the questions and “having all the facts” compared to a Donald Trump who “just lied.” Harris, who made a round of media after the face-to-face, acknowledged that “there was a weak start but a strong finish. Joe Biden is extraordinarily strong,” she said on the network screen.
But none of that seems to have been enough to diminish what was already obvious. The press woke up Friday filled with columns from analysts sympathetic to the Democrats reflecting on the mistakes of the previous night and even suggesting that Biden step aside. The conclusion, one could summarize, is that the president did not fulfill the only objective of the night: to demonstrate to the country that he is fit to continue in office.
Although Trump and Biden are barely three years apart in age (either of them would be the oldest president elected to lead the country), the former was much more clear and eloquent, a fluency that served him several times to tell lies, some of which have been recurrent, such as claiming that there was electoral fraud in 2020 (for which there is no evidence and it has not been proven by any court) or that there were no terrorist attacks during his administration. Biden, in contrast, could barely be heard in a weak and raspy voice, over which the White House explained that it was a flu from which he was recovering.
Should I step aside?
For many, the answer is yes. “I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in the American presidential political campaign in my lifetime, precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, does not have to run for re-election,” wrote columnist Thomas Friedman , a personal friend of Biden, in The New York Times.
As the same newspaper recalled in another publication, “no sitting president has ever dropped out of the race when the campaign cycle is so advanced, and there is little consensus on what would happen if he did.” While some spoke of the need for strong political figures such as Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, to intervene with the president, others fear that it is too late and that Biden will not listen to anyone other than his wife, who remains convinced of the candidacy, the newspaper added. Times.
On Friday, during an election rally in North Carolina, Biden reiterated that he is the candidate: “I don’t debate as well as I used to,” he said. However, “I know how to tell the truth,” adding that he also knows how to “do this job,” referring to governing.
The convention at which the president is to be officially nominated will take place in August. The Republican Party convention will take place in July, days before Donald Trump’s conviction in the record-falsifying case is read out in New York.
For Bohórquez-Keeney, the question more than whether he should retire is who would replace him. A possible name she mentions is Bernie Sanders, who has been a Democratic candidate, but who is seen by many as a “radical” or a leftist who would not achieve the necessary consensus.
Another option, which would seem more natural, would be Vice President Kamala Harris, who, however, is constantly said to be unpopular, partly due to the fact that several of the most thorny issues, such as migration or sexual and reproductive rights, were delegated to her.
However, according to a recent survey by Politicaltheir ratings are not very different from those of President Biden, with 43% and 42% favorable image, respectively, and 54% and 51% unfavorable image.
Another name that has begun to be floated is that of Gavin Newsom, the vigorous governor of California, a Democratic stronghold. However, he himself has denied since last night that he has such an aspiration and has reinforced his support for President Biden.
Finally, Gretchen Whitmer, the 52-year-old governor of Michigan, has also been mentioned several times. Whitmer was part of Biden’s list of vice presidential candidates in 2020, “and her strong performance in the Democratic Party’s midterm elections was partly attributed to her management,” recalls Martín Belam, in The Guardian, who also highlighted the governor’s commitment to Democratic causes, such as tougher laws against guns and the repeal of abortion bans.
If any of them are selected, they would have just three months to consolidate the unity of the party and convince the electorate.
“There is no one,” Bohórquez-Keeney sums up.
If it was previously feared that choosing Harris as a candidate would send the message that Biden was not good enough to run again, a change of course so few weeks before the nomination would not be a better signal. However, judging by the wave of reactions caused by the president’s performance (as the culmination of a string of lapses), it seems to be the “least worst” option.
