What We Can Expect Of The People Closest To Joe Biden

No one can force Biden to make a rational decision, but he certainly won't if the people he respects refuse to level with him—or with themselves.

(Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

When you strip away fear, anger, denial, and other distorting elements, the question of what a political party should do if its incumbent leader finds himself hobbled is perfectly obvious and straightforward: 

First, assess the damage; then, if fatal—or so severe that he becomes a weaker-than-replacement candidate—implore him to step aside in favor of a safer choice. 

The logic is so simple when you lay it out plainly, it gives the lie to many evasive arguments currently gripping Democratic politics. 

A thorough assessment of the damage Joe Biden sustained at Thursday night’s debate is still underway. Though I have strong suspicions about what it will reveal, in this brief limbo, it’s impossible to identify the most prudent path forward with certainty. But the party’s weakest arguments come not from those (like me) who think Biden should choose to suspend his candidacy. They come from those who insist he won’t and shouldn’t. From them, we hear:

• He’s the candidate, get in line;

• The damage is fleeting, and a media construct;

• Even if Biden appears to be weakened, Kamala Harris’s weaknesses as a campaigner, and the risky race politics of asking the whole ticket to stand down, make it obvious that things will be worse if he withdraws. 

These are all highly evasive assertions. They are the absence of reasoning and empiricism, marshaled in support of a predetermined conclusion: For our own reasons we want Biden to be the nominee. We want this discussion to go away, and so we’re trying to shut it down. 

Four days out from Biden’s disastrous debate night, this is understandable, maybe even necessary. The party is racing through stages of grief, and until it reaches acceptance, it makes sense for Biden and his allies to continue campaigning confidently. He might remain the nominee, after all, and the last thing he needs is to concede to doubts about his ability to win this race, only to accept the nomination in Chicago several weeks later. 

But that can not be allowed to happen without real, dispassionate thinking. Fundamentally, Biden and the party confront one question: What is the optimal move when there are no good moves to make?

Democrats can’t answer that question confidently unless the people Biden trusts are honest with themselves and willing to share their conclusions with Biden without fear or favor. 

Here’s how to make sure they do: