After last night’s disastrous debate performance, the demands among Democrats for Biden to step aside are ubiquitous. From panicked New York Times columnists to former Democratic Senators on MSNBC, it is nearly impossible to find a noteworthy Democrat unaffiliated with Biden who publicly claims the President should remain on the ticket.
As tantalizing and compelling as this prospect may be from a strategic standpoint, it appears unlikely at best. Despite a growing majority of Democrats wanting Biden to step aside, Biden’s decision to run in November is his alone. The conspiratorial “force Biden out” talk has no basis in reality and ignores the fact that the DNC delegates are legally bound to Joe Biden. Even the infamous Super Delegates don’t apply until a second round of ballots at the convention.
As a guy who has been trying to become President since 1988 and has been told repeatedly that he’s too old for the job, it’s hard to overstate the chip on Joe’s shoulder. Biden fundamentally believes that it should have been his all along. He watched Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004, and Hillary Clinton in 2016 all go down in flames knowing that he could have won.
But beyond that if Biden leaves office, where does he go? Does he go home to his two drug-addicted children with a dog that bites while his wife resents him for giving up the presidency? Biden would be sitting at home on election night watching a historically unpopular Kamala Harris lose every traditional swing state and put places like Virginia, Minnesota, and Colorado in play.
Unless I can be convinced otherwise, the most likely scenario is that Biden stays on top of the ticket.