In a surprise opinion piece published on Saturday, Ross Douthat, an opinion writer for the New York Times, said that President Biden should step down, citing the 81-year-old's "decline," as the New York Post reported.
“Joe Biden should not be running for re-election,” Douthat wrote. “Saying that things have worked OK throughout this stage of Biden’s decline, though, is very different from betting that they can continue working out OK for almost five long further years.
The political columnist continued: “And saying that Biden is capable of occupying the presidency for the next 11 months is quite different from saying that he’s capable of spending those months effectively campaigning for the right to occupy it again.”
Douthat suggested Biden not drop out “today or tomorrow or any day when party primaries are still proceeding." However, according to the author, the play would be to continue gathering support until August.
The president should "announce his withdrawal" from the campaign and the delegates should "choose his replacement," at the Democratic National Convention.
This would likely be a startling turn of events for voters, in addition to being what many would consider a circumvention of the democratic process.
Critics have blasted President Biden for his age and perceived decline following a string of gaffes.
However, the author floated his plan about the Democratic National Convention, seeming to indicate that the Democrat voters wouldn't take exception to any plan that kept former President Donald Trump from winning the general election.
Shade from the report ...
In his analysis of the president's decision to keep secret records, special counsel Robert Hur characterized the president as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," a description that Douthat echoed.
The author stresses that he is not saying "Biden should not be president" directly, but he does say that Biden's advanced years have "emboldened America's rivals," and that "a sense that a decrepit American chief executive is less to be feared than a more vigorous one."
“The impression the president gives in public is not senility so much as extreme frailty, like a lightbulb that still burns so long as you keep it on a dimmer,” he added.
In a report, special counsel Hur brought up Biden's deteriorating memory, and the president's confusion with the leaders of Mexico and Egypt prompted the op-ed.
In a recent humiliating public speech, he tried to reassure the presidents of Mexico and Egypt that his memory was OK, but he utterly bewildered them.
Republicans front-runner Donald Trump is 77 years old, whereas Biden is 77 years old and prone to his own gaffes, such as mixing 52-year-old South Carolina governor Nikki Haley with 83-year-old former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
