Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Joe Biden Is a Good Man and a Good President. He Must Bow Out of the Race.
d8a347b41db1ddee634e2d67d08798c102ef09ac
By The New York Times
Published 4 months ago on
June 28, 2024

President Joe Biden turns to leave the stage after debating former President Donald Trump in Atlanta on Thursday night, June 27, 2024. Whoever becomes president, the United States faces major global challenges. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Opinion by Thomas L. Friedman on June 28, 2024

I watched the Biden-Trump debate alone in a Lisbon, Portugal, hotel room, and it made me weep. I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime, precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for reelection. And Donald Trump, a malicious man and a petty president, has learned nothing and forgotten nothing. He is the same fire hose of lies he always was, obsessed with his grievances — nowhere close to what it will take for America to lead in the 21st century.

Thomas L. Friedman

Opinion

Biden and His Team Must Move Quickly

The Biden family and political team must gather quickly and have the hardest of conversations with the president, a conversation of love and clarity and resolve. To give America the greatest shot possible of deterring the Trump threat in November, the president has to come forward and declare that he will not be running for reelection and is releasing all of his delegates for the Democratic National Convention.

The Republican Party — if its leaders had an ounce of integrity — would demand the same, but it won’t, because they don’t. That makes it all the more important that Democrats put the country’s interests first and announce that a public process will begin for different Democratic candidates to compete for the nomination — town halls, debates, meetings with donors, you name it. Yes, it could be chaotic and messy when the Democratic convention starts on Aug. 19 in Chicago, but I think the Trump threat is sufficiently grave that delegates could quickly rally around and nominate a consensus candidate.

If Harris Want to Compete, She Should

If Vice President Kamala Harris wants to compete, she should. But voters deserve an open process in search of a Democratic presidential nominee who can unite not only the party but also the country, by offering something neither man on that Atlanta stage did Thursday night: a compelling description of where the world is right now and a compelling vision for what America can and must do to keep leading it — morally, economically and diplomatically.

Because this is no ordinary hinge of history we are at. We are at the start of the biggest technological disruptions and the biggest climate disruption in human history. We are at the dawn of an artificial intelligence revolution that is going to change EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE — how we work, how we learn, how we teach, how we trade, how we invent, how we collaborate, how we fight wars, how we commit crimes and how we fight crimes. Maybe I missed it, but I did not hear the phrase “artificial intelligence” mentioned by either man at the debate.

If there was ever a time that the world needs an America at its best, led by its best, it is now — for great dangers and opportunities are now upon us. A younger Joe Biden could have been that leader, but time has finally caught up with him. And that was painfully and inescapably obvious Thursday.

Biden has been a friend of mine since we traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan together after 9/11, when he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, so I say all of the above with great sadness.

Biden’s Age May Not Be Up For a Second Term

But if he caps his presidency now, by acknowledging that because of age he is not up to a second term, his first and only term will be remembered as among the better presidencies in our history. He saved us from a second Trump term and for that alone he deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but he also enacted important legislation crucial to confronting the climate and technology revolutions now upon us.

I had been ready to give Biden the benefit of the doubt up to now, because during the times I engaged with him one on one, I found him up to the job. He clearly is not any longer. His family and his staff had to have known that. They have been holed up at Camp David preparing for this momentous debate for days now. If that is the best performance they could summon from him, it’s time for him to keep the dignity he deserves and leave the stage at the end of this term.

If he does, everyday Americans will hail Joe Biden for doing what Donald Trump would never do — put the country before himself.

If he insists on running and he loses to Trump, Biden and his family — and his staff and party members who enabled him — will not be able to show their faces.

They deserve better. America needs better. The world needs better.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Thomas L. Friedman/Kenny Holston
c.2024 The New York Times Company
Distributed by The New York Times Licensing Group

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal NW Apartment Shooting

DON'T MISS

Fresno Murder Suspect Stopped in Las Vegas, Others Wanted

DON'T MISS

Trump’s Crowds Are Dwindling as His Campaign Winds Down

DON'T MISS

Trump Threatens 25% Tariff on Mexico to Curb Immigration

DON'T MISS

Music Legend Quincy Jones, Architect of Pop’s Greatest Hits, Dies at 91

DON'T MISS

Big Pharma Backs Harris 6-to-1 Over Trump in Presidential Campaign Contributions

DON'T MISS

Sanger Men Arrested in Connection with Slingshot Vandalism Spree at Businesses

DON'T MISS

What Is Sierra Unified’s Plan to Boost Lagging Student Achievement?

DON'T MISS

Musk PAC Tells Philadelphia Judge the $1 Million Sweepstakes Winners Are Not Chosen by Chance

DON'T MISS

Bass’ Record 61-Yard Field Goal Lifts Bills Over Dolphins in Thriller

UP NEXT

Trump Threatens 25% Tariff on Mexico to Curb Immigration

UP NEXT

Musk PAC Tells Philadelphia Judge the $1 Million Sweepstakes Winners Are Not Chosen by Chance

UP NEXT

Big Spenders: These Companies Are Giving the Most to California Legislative Candidates

UP NEXT

Trump, Musk and an American Masculinity Crisis

UP NEXT

What One Tossup District Says About the Trump-Harris Battle for the Suburbs

UP NEXT

A Vivid Trump-Harris Contrast in Campaign’s Grueling Final Days

UP NEXT

Let’s Keep Innovative Partnerships Crucial to Combating Climate Change: Fresno Dairy Manager

UP NEXT

No Matter the Outcome, We Are the True Losers of This Election

UP NEXT

Pennsylvania Challenge of Elon Musk’s $1M-a-Day Voter Sweepstakes Moves to Federal Court

UP NEXT

Trump Says Liz Cheney Might Not Be Such a ‘War Hawk’ if She Had Rifles Shooting at Her

Trump Threatens 25% Tariff on Mexico to Curb Immigration

1 hour ago

Music Legend Quincy Jones, Architect of Pop’s Greatest Hits, Dies at 91

1 hour ago

Big Pharma Backs Harris 6-to-1 Over Trump in Presidential Campaign Contributions

2 hours ago

Sanger Men Arrested in Connection with Slingshot Vandalism Spree at Businesses

2 hours ago

What Is Sierra Unified’s Plan to Boost Lagging Student Achievement?

2 hours ago

Musk PAC Tells Philadelphia Judge the $1 Million Sweepstakes Winners Are Not Chosen by Chance

3 hours ago

Bass’ Record 61-Yard Field Goal Lifts Bills Over Dolphins in Thriller

3 hours ago

Big Spenders: These Companies Are Giving the Most to California Legislative Candidates

3 hours ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Drifts Ahead of Election Day, While Oil Rises and Yields Sink

3 hours ago

Saints Fire Head Coach Dennis Allen After Seven-Game Losing Streak

3 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal NW Apartment Shooting

A man has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a Fresno resident at an apartment complex early Friday, the Fresno Police D...

5 mins ago

Gerrick Franklin (pictured), 34, was taken into custody Sunday in Madera County on suspicion of killing Tyler Hamon, 33. (Fresno PD)
5 mins ago

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal NW Apartment Shooting

18 mins ago

Fresno Murder Suspect Stopped in Las Vegas, Others Wanted

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, on stage during a campaign rally in Lititz, Pa., on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. Trump told supporters on Sunday that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House at the end of his term during an end-of-campaign rally where he vented angrily about a spate of new public polls showing him losing ground to Vice President Kamala Harris and joked about reporters being shot at. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
45 mins ago

Trump’s Crowds Are Dwindling as His Campaign Winds Down

1 hour ago

Trump Threatens 25% Tariff on Mexico to Curb Immigration

1 hour ago

Music Legend Quincy Jones, Architect of Pop’s Greatest Hits, Dies at 91

2 hours ago

Big Pharma Backs Harris 6-to-1 Over Trump in Presidential Campaign Contributions

2 hours ago

Sanger Men Arrested in Connection with Slingshot Vandalism Spree at Businesses

2 hours ago

What Is Sierra Unified’s Plan to Boost Lagging Student Achievement?

Search

Send this to a friend