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Dropping out because of "must defeat trump" is not a point-A-to-point-B reasoning. I think it was the right choice though. You can't kick the can down the road forever.
Possibly....God knows I felt the same dread you did
I'd be a little less skeptical of that claim if he hadn't said that he'd be OK losing to Trump, "as long as I gave it my all." I appreciate him stepping aside for the good of the country, but it took nearly a month of pressure from Democrats to get him to drop out, and I'm sure if the party leadership hadn't turned in him, he'd be happy to take his chances against Trump.
I give him a pass for that statement. Biden was running on the platform of election trust and legitimacy. How else does he answer the question? "No, and I'll fight tooth and nail to dispute the results if Trump wins?". Maybe the democratic base would have loved to hear that, but it's mixed messaging that would have been used as ammunition against him. He's the President of the United States. He has to project confidence in the system, which means trying hard to win, but stopping right on the dot at "doing your best" and accepting the will of the people, even if it's a distasteful outcome for everyone involved.
Honestly, I still think that's a pretty terrible answer when your entire campaign messaging has been, "Democracy will end if you elect this man." I think if he had said something like, "I understand the stakes of this election, I would feel horrible if I lost and let the American people down, but it less than 5 months to the election and I am the best positioned candidate to defeat him," that would have been a much more reasonable answer. It would have been wrong (clearly), but at least it wouldn't have sounded like he was losing a little league game.
Oh yeah, I hated the answer he gave too, but it was pretty clear he wasn't expecting the question either. It was a bad answer and a mistake, but definitely one of the less egregious mistakes his campaign had been making in the weeks leading up to his departure from the campaign trail. At it's core, being satisfied with doing your best is a sentiment most people can agree with, but one that falls short of what we actually needed. It did not resonate with the people who were upset with him at the time. We needed Biden to be ruthless after his debate disaster, but he was still playing softball at the major leagues.
Fair enough. It certainly wasn't the worst gaffe from that period.
He did drop out at the perfect time though, that could have been strategic
Less than two weeks before he dropped out, he wrote an open letter to congressional democrats in which he wrote:
I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.
I have heard the concerns that people have — their good faith fears and worries about what is at stake in this election. I am not blind to them.
I can respond to all this by saying clearly and unequivocally: I wouldn’t be running again if I did not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024.
The voters of the Democratic Party have voted. They have chosen me to be the nominee of the party. Do we now just say this process didn’t matter? That the voters don’t have a say?
I decline to do that... I have no doubt that I — and we — can and will beat Donald Trump.
Unless this was all part of an elaborate hoax, it's clear he had no intention of dropping out at that time.
I don't think it was a hoax, but campaign 101 is to be absolutely confident in your candidacy until the nanosecond you drop out. If you telegraph weakness to the voting public, and then end up staying in the race, that will be a millstone around your neck. Even if he was wavering in the weeks leading up to his dropout, there would be zero upside to communicating that publicly.
It's possible, but I personally don't buy that argument. He didn't have to sit down and write that letter, but he did. That, plus the interview where he said that "giving it his all" was "what it was all about", seemed obvious to me he was all for holding on tight despite everyone's concerns.
Nothing but respect for anyone that old who can change their mind when they're wrong. It's easy to fall into a rut of stubbornness.
To he honest, I think that if he had dropped out earlier it would have been better. He created a lot of panic within the base that didn't need to be there. I suppose it's not impossible that it was some kind of strategy to make Harris' ascension more welcome and inevitable, but I think that's giving him way too much credit.
Disagree entirely. This has left the Trump campaign totally twisting in the wind. They have no idea how to compete with a mixed-race independent and smart woman with her kindly dad running mate because they were hoping for Biden.
The attacks I've seen so far:
Harris laughs too much.
Harris hugs people.
Harris is a woman.
Harris turned black all of the sudden.
Harris is black.
Walz... uh... something about tampons.
I guess it was 4d chess? Do you know who you sound like?
No I don't. Do tell me who I sound like.
I mean, I don't disagree that the switch has left Trump flailing, I just think that still happens if Biden drops out two weeks earlier than he did. It was clear by then that he had no chance of winning, and it would have saved voters a lot of fear and despair. You could argue that doing it after the RNC made the whole convention pointless, but given how poorly he's done in a post Biden race, it's just as likely that the entire thing would become an even more public meltdown.
Either way, I think the idea that this was a strategy is a fantasy. I think his actions and reporting at the time made it clear that he was planning to run, and it was only pressure from top Democrats that made him step down.
The bigger issue are voters clinging to the same shit as you.
His “giving his all” was too icky !
So apparently people couldn’t get past a great administration and hence we have a trump horse race.
I mean, we have a Trump horse race now vs. a Trump blow out before. You may think his administration was great. Personally, I was surprised by how strong on labor he was, but disgusted by his handling of Gaza, and I think his blind institutionalism has made him too slow to react to an out of control Supreme Court. But those opinions don't matter; he was not going to win after that debate. He came across as senile and confused, and he was not going to energize the base he needed to win. No matter what you think of his administration, he lost the election on June 27th, and we're just lucky someone made him see that before it was too late.
It's still basically a 50/50 toss up. If Harris loses then we will all be wondering what may have happened if they stuck with Biden
You might have time to wonder if that happens, but I’ll end up in the ovens pretty quick. Fuck racism and fascism.
It's a 50/50 toss up after only 2 weeks of campaigning. Unless she does something to kill her own momentum, she's in very good shape. Also, it's pretty clear what would have happened if they stuck with Biden; Maine and New York were becoming competitive, there's just no universe where he would have won.
Biden was at a 50/50 before he resigned. He was behind in the polls but they were all always within the margin of error.
Yeah, but he was on the downswing, while Harris is on the upswing. It just was not going to get better for him. Also, I can't remember for sure, but I think he was significantly down on the most important swing states, and only polling about even nationally.
Thanks for your service, Diamond Joe. You did the world a service in beating Trump in 2020. Harris/Walz will finish him off, and we can get back to righting the ship the Republicans keep drilling holes in.
All politicians must learn this lesson. You are a public servant. It's not about your ego or your legacy, it's about what is best for the country and its people.
Win or lose, Biden will have my respect for this. No matter where you live, it's a rare thing to see a leader truly placing their nation's good before their own pride. I hope others will learn by his example.
I agree... I was shocked when it was announced. But then again, the DNC establishment basically dragged him out of retirement to beat Bernie.
It's deeply ironic to me that a) they almost certainly wouldn't have been in this situation if Bernie had been the nominee last time, and b) as a direct result of that choice their nominee now is formerly the senator with the closest voting record to Bernie's, running with the VP pick that Bernie suggested.
They tried to cut him off at the knees, but in the end, Sanders kind of ended up calling the shots.
Your commit fills me with hope, not just because I’m a Bernie fan, but because it shows that sometimes the better voice does win eventually.