On a gift – Ezra Klein in NYT:

‘In a post-debate Data for Progress poll, voters were asked which concerned them more: Biden’s age and physical and mental health or Trump’s criminal charges and threats to democracy. By 53 percent to 42 percent, they chose Biden’s age.
The Democratic Party is realizing it must act. But how? If Biden steps aside, it has two options: a coronation or a contest. In a coronation, Biden names Vice President Kamala Harris his successor and asks his delegates to throw their support to her. To some Democrats, this is the safest path. My newsroom colleagues Adam Nagourney and Jim Rutenberg report that “several Democrats said that no matter the risks, a new nominee could bring a host of benefits to the party, particularly if Mr. Biden anointed a successor in an effort to assure a smooth transition and minimize intraparty battling.”’

(…)

‘A coronation would also deny Democrats the reward of a contest: constant media coverage from here until their convention. Imagine Trump’s fury if he spent the next few months barely able to break into a news cycle. In an interview with Politico, a Democratic National Convention delegate from South Carolina said aloud what many Democrats have told me privately. “I think it would be fantastic for the party. I mean, think about it: People would watch it. It would get the ratings: It has the drama that people would pay attention to. And if multiple candidates were seeking our nomination, you would have wall-to-wall, weeklong, prime-time coverage of all of our best rising stars, delivering the party message that, frankly, Joe Biden couldn’t against Donald Trump.” Democrats have spent so much time imagining what could go wrong if Biden steps down that they struggle to imagine what could go right. But this is a party suffused with talent. This is a party that knows how to win where it needs to win. Take the seven states that will almost certainly decide this election: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Democrats control the governor’s mansion in five of them. Democrats won 11 of the 14 Senate seats across them.’

(…)

‘They reveal who is ready to rise to the moment. Democrats should give themselves, and the country, the gift of finding that out.’

Read the article here.

Biden still believes he is ready to rise to the moment.

I’m skeptical that the contest will bring the Democrats what they are hoping for, better polling numbers.

Now, more Americans fear Biden’s age more than Trump’s maliciousness. With a new candidate, they will find something else to fear more than that particular maliciousness, I’m afraid.

But then again, the savior might appear suddenly.

Or as I read in LRB: Biden reminds us that we are all going to die. Did we need that reminder? Probably not. Did we want it? Definitely not.