To defeat former President Donald Trump in November, Democratic leaders need to urge President Joe Biden to step aside, claiming he is “embarrassing himself and endangering his legacy,” according to an editorial by The New York Times editorial board.
“He needs to hear that he is no longer an effective spokesman for his own priorities,” the board emphasized in their detailed editorial on Monday. “They need to tell him that his defiance threatens to hand victory to Mr. Trump.”
Instead of campaigning vigorously to address concerns about his age and capabilities following his poor debate performance against Trump on June 27, Biden has kept a “controlled schedule” of public appearances and avoided media questions.
The editors noted that when Biden is not using a teleprompter, as seen during his interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, he “has continued to appear as a man in decline.”
Biden has dismissed voter concerns about his mental and physical fitness, which the Times argues is putting the United States “at significant risk” by insisting he is the best candidate to beat Trump.
He has also criticized polls that question his fitness, despite overwhelming numbers like those in the latest Times/Siena poll, which found that 74% of voters believe he is too old to be president.
In a letter to congressional Democrats on Monday, Biden continued to assert that he is the best candidate to defeat Trump and blamed the press and others for attempting to push him out of office.
“Democratic leaders shouldn’t rely solely on the judgment of the few voters who turned out in this year’s coronation primaries,” the editors urged. “They should listen instead to the much larger group of voters who have been telling every pollster in America their concerns for a long time.”
While some elected Democrats have voiced concerns about Biden’s issues, most have not taken a definitive stand and are waiting for the president to make a decision.
Biden is aware that the longer he holds onto the nomination, the harder it will be to replace him.
“For those at the helm of the Democratic Party — including the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer; the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries; and even the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi — the time has arrived to speak forcefully to the president and the public about the need for a new candidate before time runs out for other candidates to make their case to the party’s convention delegates,” the editors concluded.
{Matzav.com}