The LA Times has published an editorial that everyone complaining about Biden’s debate performance should read. (Full disclosure: I too was dismayed by Biden’s performance, but I believe it is counterproductive to keep harping on it. In my view, it is pointless to keep talking about replacing him. He isn’t going anywhere, and if he did what limited information we have from public polling indicates Harris, Newsom, Whitmer, or whomever else your favored replacement is, would not improve our party’s electoral prospects, and in fact would make a Trump victory more likely.)
You should read the entire piece, but a few excerpts can give you an idea of where the editorial board is coming from.
Biden’s shaky performance raised concerns about whether he can win in November, and prompted calls from prominent Democrats, columnists and others for him to step aside. It’s up to the Democratic Party to sort this out. But it’s time to refocus attention on the only candidate in the race who is patently unfit for office — any office — and an imminent threat to democracy: Donald Trump.
It’s unbelievable that the nation is spending so much time on the question of Biden’s verbal acuity, when the greatest concern ought to be that his challenger is a self-aggrandizing felon and twice-impeached election-denier. (Emphasis supplied.) Trump fomented the Jan. 6 insurrection, shows contempt for the rule of law and shamelessly lies in pursuit of more power. He’s an authoritarian who admires murderous despots, wants to jail his political enemies and has publicly flirted with declaring himself a dictator on his first day back in office. . . .
Trump is the only man in the presidential race manifestly unworthy of holding a position of power, and has no business ever returning to the White House. If the GOP had any decency left, its members would be discussing whether to dump Trump for a candidate who isn’t out to bulldoze democratic institutions in favor of autocracy.
In addition to this counterproductive feeding frenzy, why hasn’t there been any acknowledgement from the press — or for that matter, from Democrats — of the extraordinary job Biden has done on the economy? Economists of all stripes predicted the U.S. would fall into a recession in 2021 or 2022. Instead, and thanks to Biden’s economic stewardship, the economy is better than in any peer country, in fact, the best I can remember it ever being.
- The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell again last week and remains strong.
- It is the best job market since the 1960s. And Biden’s economic policies [should] get the credit, because our economic performance far outstrips that of any or our peer industrialized countries.
- Even inflation, Biden’s Achilles heel, is back down to normal levels. Since the start of the year, in fact, the rate of inflation has not just declined; prices have actually gone down, something almost unheard of.
- Our economy is so strong that we are pulling up the economy of the entire world. In fact, it’s so good that the World Bank’s most recent forecast so acknowledges:
The World Bank upgraded its outlook for the global economy Tuesday, estimating that it will expand 2.6% this year on the strength of sustained growth in the United States. “U.S. growth is exceptional,’’ Ayhan Kose, the bank’s deputy chief economist, told The Associated Press ahead of the release of its latest Global Economic Prospects report.
- GDP is better than under Trump, even if you give Trump a mulligan on the pandemic. And even if you ignore the pandemic job losses and subsequent recovery, Biden’s job growth far exceeds Trump’s.