If Biden can't ace an hour long unscripted press conference, yes he should leave the race [View all]

[Tom Rinaldo]

This will be my first and only OP questioning whether Biden should remain as our presidential candidate in 2024. Either he will decide himself to withdraw or he will be our nominee. If he remains our nominee I will fight for him. I have absolutely no doubt that a second Biden administration will be infinitely better for America than a second Trump administration. Biden places excellent people in positions of responsibility. Trump does the opposite. America will be well governed under a second Biden Administration even if Biden's health should falter.

First though, Biden has to be reelected in order for there to be a second Biden Administration. Many on this board seemingly subscribe to the proposition that "one bad night" should not nor will doom Biden's reelection campaign. I agree. However it is yet unknown, and to a degree unknowable, whether Biden might suffer a second, or a third, or even more "bad nights" or "bad days" or "bad moments" in front of a camera before this campaign is through. No one on our side imagined Biden would perform the way that he did on Thursday night. If that was a one off, and Biden fronts a strong campaign from here out, yes he can recover from that debate. Can he recover if more extremely weak moments lie ahead?

To the extent possible, the time to find out is now, before the Democratic nominee for President is set in stone. I believe Biden should hold a far ranging extended press conference where he fields all of the difficult and even hostile questions thrown at him. Outside of the MAGA cult, Americans expect the leader of the free world to be able to handle that. Hillary Clinton handled 13 hours in front of an often hostile Congressional hearing when she was Secretary of State..That largely defanged the Benghazi attacks against her, and Republicans were forced to move on to "her emails" as an alternate sham to pursue against her.

Biden needs to perform well, unscripted, at an hour long press conference. It would be well covered, and it would help calm the rough seas he is facing now, and allow voters to refocus their attention where it really belongs, on the dangerous failings of the criminal Biden is running against. If there are any serious doubts inside the Biden team about his ability to pull that off, well, we are probably only one additional disastrous performance away from a second Trump Presidency. Best to deal with this head on now.