A Recipe for Lemonade

Last night’s debate between President Biden and Felonious Trump was, let’s face it, an unmitigated disaster for President Biden. At best, it was a huge missed opportunity; at worst, it was a big gift to a person who is arguably the most dishonest, despicable, and deplorable person to ever run for the office. It was also a gift to RFK Jr., who actually won the debate by not participating. But as Yogi Berra famously (allegedly) said, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” So where do we go from here?

From the very beginning of the debate, President Biden seemed off. He didn’t have any spring in his step, twinkle in his eye, or his trademark smile. He seemed overprepared and unrelaxed. It didn’t help that the first question from the CNN moderators was about inflation, a predictable opening item, but President Biden struggled with it. His performance improved later on as he relaxed and got a bit angry, but the damage was done.

Felonious Trump, for his part, looked relaxed from the beginning, and had on his rally persona. It didn’t take him long to veer into his lane of lies and projections, but at least he started out on strong footing. His insanity and inanity remained in check until later when he realized that he could flood the airwaves with falsehoods and nobody would challenge him. It remains to be seen if that helped or hurt him in any way.

It also remains to be seen how RFK Jr. capitalizes on the performance of both candidates, and whose supporters he usurps more. The debate may have strengthened the argument for a third party candidate, although he’d have no chance of beating either of them.

Immediately after the debate, and even while it was underway, many of President Biden’s supporters and several commentators were calling for him to step down. Such an outcome is both highly unlikely and highly risky. President Biden has committed to running for re-election for some time, and backing out now would be completely out of character for him. He’s probably considering it, but it’s unlikely that he’d change course in that direction.

Some have said for months that President Biden deserves another term. Looked at differently, what he deserves is to retire on his own terms. What he has done to turn around the mess he was left has been nothing short of miraculous, despite some shortcomings, and the fact of the matter is that we need him to continue to be president much more than he needs the job.

One of the starkest differences between President Biden and Felonious Trump is their management styles. President Biden surrounds himself with competent, capable, intelligent people who can do their jobs effectively without being micromanaged. Trump, on the other hand, surrounds himself with loyalists who only hope to share in the power and riches that he craves, and often find themselves with only table scraps or worse. That stark difference demonstrates both the dangers of having a unitary executive (essentially an autocrat), and the virtue of having a chief executive who is dependent on and accountable to others.

Rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater, Democrats should be looking at the big picture. President Biden has restored the functionality and integrity to an executive branch that was decimated by Trump’s autocratic, self-aggrandizing, and felonious actions. One way he can recover from his debate performance is to acknowledge to the American people that nobody can or should do the job by themselves; it takes a team of competent, capable, and committed public servants to succeed, and that’s what he’s assembled. Regardless of what happens to him, America will survive. Such an approach may demonstrate his humanity, and reassure everyone that he’s got this.

President Biden did not do well in last night’s debate, but 90 minutes under the hot lights against a fast-talking con man is no substitute for three and a half years of recovery from the worst presidency in modern history. Now, how about that lemonade?