Biden’s team asked for the first debate because they needed a moment. A moment where, for once, President Biden would break through and be able to speak to the vast majority of the country who doesn’t read the NYT, watch cable news, or read any political news online or elsewhere. This has been the campaign’s struggle, how to break through to voters who are checked out and have no idea about the amazing job done by President Biden or the terribleness of Trump 2.0.
So, thanks to Joe’s epic debate FU, they got their moment but it turned out to not be the moment they planned for but, instead, a senior moment.
The truth — Joe had a senior moment
After the debate, I texted with my 88 year old mom. I shared my frustration with what I characterized as Biden’s (and his team’s) complete lack of preparation for being on camera during the debate. And, here’s what she texted back.
Being an older person myself, I think he may have been prepared, but the importance of the debate made him not perform.
I’ve seen my mom, who is in amazing shape and living her best, life have these moments as well. While she is extremely capable, she can freeze under pressure (something as simple as a time limit on an e-commerce website). She shared this me as well. So, I texted her back and asked:
Question - do you think he’s too old for the job as an older person? I love Joe and always thought he was able to handle it but last night has made me reconsider…
And this is what she said:
He has good people around him, so I think he could be an effective president. But, I don’t think he would when he was under a lot of pressure
I talked to her later to explain and said that she thought this was manageable as long as he had time to address this situation at hand which is how life, but not Presidential debates, works. I think this is right.
Team Biden knows Joe has senior moments and has been/is scared of it
Jennifer O’Malley Dillion, Biden’s campaign manager, was interviewed by John Heilemann just before the debate. Heilemann asked JOD, as someone who works with Joe daily and sees him in action, to reassure voters about Biden’s age and she said:
In 2022, when I was coming back from Korea with him, the Uvalde shooting happened in the middle of the night and I was with Joe and..
She had no recent anecdote and basically pivoted back to a story that was two years old. This is someone who talks to Biden daily and could not provide a current story, anecdote to counter the then very real and now existential question for the campaign, is Joe Biden just too old for the job?
I believe that this is because JOD knows that Biden is diminished from what he was even two years ago but also believes he is up for the job but had decided, for likely very good reasons, to avoid presenting that new reality to the press and voters. She is also someone who clearly has total faith in Joe Biden or she would not have, as she also noted in the interview, move to Wilmington away from her three very young children in DC. She clearly believes deeply that, despite his senior moments, Joe is very much up for the job.
The story of Biden’s senior moments and diminishment has leaked to the press. Unfortunately, the debate performance validates the execrable Hur report and WSJ hit jobs to some degree. I believe the Trump campaign also knows about Biden’s senior moments. They likely still have eyes and ears in the White House through former and sympathetic admin staff (like the Secret Service). This is why they have been pushing those stories This is why they wanted the debate so badly (witness Trump’s campaign manager handing out “Biden debate us” cards at the White House Correspondents Dinner). They thought a moment like Thursday night was possible and it was. They are dancing in the streets after Thursday’s debate.
It’s time for Team Biden to grab the (senior) moment now
The country is now watching, thinking about Biden because of his nationally broadcast and extended (senior) moment. The campaign has broken through and, even though this (a full public, live, display of a senior moment) is not what they wanted and exactly what the Trump campaign did want, they now have to fully embrace it and go all in.
The response at the North Carolina rally was a good start but they need to go much, much further.
They need to go all on on full extended media blitz and arrange one on one live interviews with leading reporters, influencers, podcast hosts that have reach to all corners of the electorate about Joe’s age and what it is like being an 81 year old President. This means having live interviews with non friendly people like Joe Rogan and Sean Hannity. They need to insist on making them Iive, casual, and short. Most importantly, they and he need to be brutally honest and to take on the topic of what happened at the debate and Joe’s challenges and advantages of his age. It needs to be live so it can’t be cut and used against them. It needs to be casual and short to lean in Joe’s best characteristics and strength (being one on one and folksy). It needs to be brutally honest because this is the topic that people want to discuss know more about. They can, because of the news value of what just happened, get these interviews and also get people to watch them because a huge number of people in the country want to know more. They have to lean into Joe’s age and stop trying to hide it.
It might not work, but everyone has seniors they know and love in their lives
It’s not clear if voters will vote for an 81 guy who has senior moments, but what choice does the campaign have now? The senior moment cat is fully out of the bag. Maybe this is good news because it was likely to come out. And, everyone has seniors in their lives that they know and trust and revere and love (and see them as complete people), so they can possibly get behind the reality of where Joe is now as a 81 year old taking on the hardest job on the planet.
The campaign needs to fully lean into Joe’s senior moments. It is time, to quote the character Mikey from “The Bear,” to let ‘er rip. Worse case, it doesn’t, work and Joe has to step down but let’s find out first. What other choice do they/we have now?