Since I have been advocating for Biden to step aside, I wanted to offer my impression of the press conference in good faith. I’m not trying to convince anyone, but just trying to offer perspective for others who are still grappling with what they thought of the whole thing.
I thought the first 5-10 minutes were brutal. The “VP Trump” moment was particularly rough since it came immediately before Biden highlighted that he had quickly fixed his “President Putin” moment earlier in the day.
The next 20-30 minutes were ok, but somewhat confusing, though I’m sure that reading and parsing the transcript would reveal that he did accurately communicate. I just had some trouble following.
I thought he ended particularly strong and was finally hitting his stride and getting in some good jabs at Trump. The tightness in my gut began to subside. Though his defensiveness felt more noticeable to me. (which of course he’s defensive. he’s being hit by all sides)
On average it was an OK performance. The beginning was below average, and the end was above.
So I personally draw 2 conclusions, and I’m not telling anyone else how to feel, because these aren’t “provable”:
1. If this Joe can show up reliably most every day for the rest of the campaign, then I would definitely feel like his continued candidacy would be the best course of action, though not particularly strong. That is not something I feel particularly confident about because…
2. It felt to me like he was working so incredibly hard to access his knowledge and to stay with his train of thought. Throughout the foreign policy section, he was drawing on his vast depth of foreign policy experience and knowledge but did so in a way that personally reminded me of my father as he began to decline would call out the names of different streets we were crossing as if to prove to me that he still knew them, even though I hadn’t asked. Don’t ask me to prove this, b/c I obviously can’t. But this kind of behavior was a massive red flag with my father.
Where it leaves me:
1. I don’t see how Biden can carry out an effective campaign. He’s going to be stuck fending off these real questions, b/c he’s not going to be able to publicly behave in a way that convinces most people that he’s completely fine. And given what I saw, he is not able to effectively turn that attention away from himself onto Trump, who is the absolute threat.
2. Dems need to wrap this up either way very quickly. If they can’t convince in a few days, then they absolutely need to cut bait, and get behind him.
3. Whatever happens, I support the Democratic nominee and will be actively supporting local campaigns and efforts.