I watched the Biden-Trump debate alone in a Lisbon hotel room, and it made me cry. I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my entire life, precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, does not have to run for re-election. And Donald Trump, a malicious man and a mean president, has learned and forgotten nothing. It’s the same pack of lies he’s always been, obsessed with grievances, nothing close to what it will take for America to lead the 21st century.
The Biden family and their political team must quickly come together and have the toughest of conversations with the president; a conversation of love, clarity, and determination. To give America the best possible chance of deterring Trump’s threat in November, the president must step forward and declare that he will not seek reelection and that he is giving up all of his delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
The Republican Party, if its leaders had an ounce of integrity, would demand the same thing, but they won’t, because they don’t. That’s why it’s so important for Democrats to put the country’s interests first and announce that a public process will begin for different Democratic candidates to compete for the nomination: town halls, debates, meetings with donors, whatever. Yes, it could be chaotic and disorderly when the Democratic convention begins on August 19 in Chicago, but I think the threat from Trump is serious enough for delegates to quickly rally around a consensus candidate.
If Vice President Kamala Harris wants to run, let her. But voters deserve an open process in search of a Democratic presidential nominee who can unite not just the party but the country, offering something that none of the men on that stage in Atlanta did Thursday night: a compelling description of where the world is right now and a compelling vision of what America can and must do to continue leading it morally, economically and diplomatically.
Because we are not in any historical moment. We are at the beginning of the greatest technological disruptions and the greatest climate disruption in human history. We are at the dawn of an artificial intelligence revolution that will change EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE: how we work, how we learn, how we teach, how we trade, how we invent, how we collaborate, how we fight wars, how we commit crimes and how we combat crimes. crimes. Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t hear the term “artificial intelligence” mentioned by either of them in the debate.
If there was ever a time when the world needs America at its best, led by its best men, it is now, because great dangers and opportunities loom before us. A younger Joe Biden might have been that leader, but his time has passed. And that was painfully and inescapably obvious on Thursday.
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Biden has been a friend of mine since we traveled together to Afghanistan and Pakistan after 9/11, when he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, so I say all of this with great sadness.
But if he ends his presidency now, recognizing that due to age he is not fit for a second term, his first and only presidency will be remembered as one of the best in our history. He saved us from back-to-back Trump terms, and for that alone deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but he also signed important legislation crucial to addressing the climate and technological revolutions upon us.
Until now, I had been willing to give Biden the benefit of the doubt, because in the times I had interacted with him face to face, he seemed up to the job. Clearly, he is no longer. His family and his team had to know that. They have been holed up in Camp David for days, preparing for this momentous debate. If that is the best they have been able to get from him, Biden should retain his dignity and walk off the stage at the end of this term.
If he does, ordinary Americans will cheer Joe Biden for doing what Donald Trump would never do: putting country before himself.
If he insists on running and loses to Trump, Biden and his family — and his staff and party members who allowed him to do so — will have a hard time showing their face to the public.
They deserve better. America needs better. The world needs something better.
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