Despite media pearl clutching about President Biden’s debate performance, this is no time to fly off the handle with worries about the election coming in November. This will be a very high consequences election, but right it is time to work, not moan.
- Appearance is not substance. While Biden has been providing excellent leadership and by all measures is having a very successful administration, the skills required for a good debate performance are not those required for political and leadership success.
- Voters will have forgotten the debate performance by November. The same was true for Obama and Clinton who performed poorly in their first debates. Voters elected them.
- Changing horses in the middle of the stream has always been a bad idea. In this case it would guarantee the election of DJT and the loss of our democracy as early as next year. There is no way any consensus for a replacement candidate could happen, and the remaining campaign would be disjointed and ineffective.
- Important struggles are won by staying the course, digging in, and pushing through until the final whistle.
- People are afraid of the consequences of a new Trump administration, and rightly so. Don’t let that fear turn into panic. The game is not over, and there is a lot of work to do. Let this debate experience serve to as a wake-up call, not a knockout blow.