The newspaper’s editorial board The New York Times is urging President Joe Biden to clear the way for a new Democratic challenger in the presidential race against former President Donald Trump after Biden’s debate debacle.
“President Biden has repeatedly and rightly described the stakes in November’s presidential election as nothing less than the future of American democracy,” the newspaper wrote in an editorial published Friday night (28).
“Biden has said he is the candidate with the best chance of confronting this threat of tyranny and defeating it. His argument is largely based on the fact that he defeated Trump in 2020. This is no longer sufficient justification for Biden to be the Democratic nominee this year,” it adds.
The editorial came a day after Biden struggled to form coherent sentences during the first presidential debate, showing signs of his advancing age and causing immediate panic among many Democratic commentators and voters.
Meanwhile, Biden tried to downplay his poor debate performance at a rally in North Carolina also this Friday (28). “I don’t debate as well as I used to,” Biden said, as his supporters applauded.
“I know what I know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right and wrong. I know how to do this job. I know how to make things happen. I know, like millions of Americans, that when you fall, you get back up again,” the president added.
But the NYT editorial board didn’t buy that idea, saying Biden “is not the man he was four years ago.”
“The president appeared on Thursday (27) night like the shadow of a great public servant. He had difficulty explaining what he would accomplish in a second term. He has had difficulty responding to Trump’s provocations and holding him accountable for his lies, his failures and his frightening plans. More than once, Biden had difficulty finishing a sentence,” the newspaper noted.
The text adds: “Biden has been an admirable president. Under his leadership, the nation has prospered and begun to address a series of long-term challenges, and the wounds opened by Trump have begun to heal. But the greatest public service Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for reelection.”
Reckless bet
While the editorial board acknowledged that Biden would still be their “unequivocal choice” when faced with a showdown between Trump and Biden, the board argued that Biden remaining in the race would represent an “unwise gamble” as there are other Democrats “better prepared to present clear, convincing and forceful alternatives to a second Trump term.”
“There is no reason for the party to risk the country’s stability and security by forcing voters to choose between Trump’s shortcomings and Biden’s. It is too big a gamble to simply hope that Americans will ignore or disregard Biden’s age and frailty as they see with their own eyes,” the NYT editorial text added.
Democrats must now “find the courage to speak clear truths to the party leader,” the editorial board writes, adding that Biden allies who worked to protect him from unscripted public appearances must “recognize the damage to Biden’s standing and the unlikelihood that he can repair them.”
Despite immediate panic from commentators on CNN and MSNBC, many Democrats have since defended Biden, including former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Jim Clyburn.
Biden’s campaign, for its part, sought to downplay the editorial.
“The last time Joe Biden lost the endorsement of the New York Times editorial board, it turned out to be very good for him,” Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond said in response, referring to the paper’s decision to endorse Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the 2020 Democratic primaries before Biden ultimately won the nomination.
© 2024 National Review. Published with permission. Original in English: New York Times Editorial Board Calls for Biden to Drop Out of Presidential Race
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