(The Center Square) – Following President Joe Biden’s recent debate performance, concerns about his cognitive health and viability to win the election abound – resulting in a growing number of Democrats calling for him to step aside.
Although Biden insists he is fit for the job, opinions vary on whether the 81-year-old can lead the nation for another term.
Open to Debate organized a live virtual debate moderated by journalist John Donvan on Thursday exploring the issue.
Michelle Goldberg, opinion columnist at the New York Times, argued for Biden to step down. Dmitri Mehlhorn, co-founder of Investing in US, which supports organizations aimed at defeating former President Donald Trump, made the case for him to remain the nominee.
While taking opposite sides of the argument, they were still on the same page regarding the former president — that Biden, in any condition, is preferable to Trump.
Goldberg felt the debate was ultimately a revelation that president’s cognitive abilities were “worse than we thought.”
Over the last few years, she has opined that Biden is too old for another term and argued that his campaign activity has been limited to one short interview with George Stephanopoulos and a tightly scripted radio show – a strategy that does not reassure voters.
The limited campaigning combined with lagging poll numbers leaves her questioning whether he can turn it around.
Mehlhorn believes Biden can unite his party. Goldberg disagreed, saying the argument that everyone “should just choke down their doubts and get in line” is not feasible or honest.
“You’re asking the entire party to unite behind a message they do not believe is true,” she said.
A recent poll, Goldberg stated, shows only 39% of these surveyed thought Biden was honest and trustworthy. Mehlhorn pointed out both candidates have significant new liabilities, but time spent talking about where Biden falls short is time not spent focusing on Trump.
“It’s not that I’m sure that someone else could do better,” Goldberg said. “It’s that I’m sure that Joe Biden’s campaign is in a kind of a death spiral,” adding, in that situation, the right thing to do is take a gamble.
Should Biden be persuaded to withdraw, both agreed Vice President Kamala Harris would be the best candidate to take over.
There are two pathways, Goldberg said, but the path of least resistance is Harris, since she was elected to be there should Biden be unable to fulfill his responsibilities and can inherit the campaign treasury. The other path is to have a brokered convention.
Although Mehlhorn agreed, he said the Democratic party is “incredibly fractious,” and should Biden step down, his number one job will be dealing with those who don’t support Harris. He said the movement to oust Biden is about evenly split between “anti- and pro-Kamala” people, “and they will be at each other’s throats.”
Both debaters agree Harris’ strength is her prosecutorial experience, but Goldberg cautioned the downside could be for her perceived flaws to become “really evident, and see her swift voted in a way that’s difficult to recover from.”
She could also imagine though, a “huge sigh of relief and unleashed energy” after people “walking on eggshells and having their heart in their stomach every time they see Joe Biden speak.”
Mehlhorn countered, saying the same could happen “the first time Kamala gets up there and says something you think is not optimal for beating Trump.”
Harris “can make this election a referendum on Donald Trump, whereas, as long as Joe Biden stays in the race, it’s going to be very hard to make it anything but a referendum on Joe Biden,” Goldberg said.
Although both are aligned about the threat they believe they face and due to Biden’s stubbornness about staying in the race, Goldberg said she would be relieved to hear an argument on how he could win it – but she has not seen any viable plan for changing the trajectory.
“The situation we have right now is fundamentally untenable,” she said. “And the only people I hear are making a case for how you move forward with a different nominee.”
Drawing on childhood memories of watching “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi,” Mehlhorn made the argument that leadership qualities go beyond physical appearances, comparing characters from the movies to the candidates.
Hoping to convince swing voters that Biden can be an effective leader, he compared the president to Yoda, who demonstrates wisdom and strength despite age or appearance.
He then compared Donald Trump to Jabba the Hutt.
“He’s a vigorous, violent, predatory, deranged criminal,” he said. “And it may be that Yoda is very frail…but everybody I know would choose Yoda over Jabba the Hutt in any circumstance.”
