I write this as someone who supports President Biden staying in the race, just to be clear.
The problem we face is that Democrats are divided on whether he should step down, or whether he should stay in. If we continue to be divided on that issue the way we are now, it will drastically hurt our chances of beating the convicted felon Donald Trump.
That is our goal. The candidate we have at the top of the ticket is the means to reaching that goal. That means we should go with what gives us the best chance. Figuring this out ahead of the convention is necessary, and indeed, essential, although that requires actual good-faith efforts to present, and more importantly listen to arguments.
But we will not be able to do that if we are calling people who believe otherwise undemocratic. Or detached from reality. Or any of the other epithets and insinuations that I’ve seen being tossed around since the debate two weeks ago.
All that will do is further divide us and make those divisions more permanent, especially when people also throw around “we’ll lose if we don’t do this” arguments. At this rate, no matter who ends up at the top of the ticket, a lot of Democrats will be demoralized enough that it will affect their ability to help us win. That doesn’t mean they won’t vote for whoever the candidate ends up being.
It means they may not be willing to donate money. It means they may not be willing to volunteer, to make phone calls or write postcards. If they get demoralized enough, they may view the race as a lost cause long before we ever start voting and just mentally clock out of the whole thing. We cannot afford any of that.
So remember that we all want to win this, and be civil even if you don’t agree with someone arguing a different position.