this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2024
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[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 31 points 4 months ago (3 children)

I'm sure this was a really hard decision, but it shows courage and strength that Biden put his own ego aside for the good of the country...

...is what I would have said if he'd done this two weeks ago. Now, I'm just glad he was able to take off his narcissism glasses long enough to see how badly he was going to lose, and I hope his prolonged tantrum hasn't damaged Harris' chances too badly.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 37 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I wouldn't say this is bad timing in hindsight.

  • The news media moves on from Trump's pity party, the debate, the President Putin and Vice President Trump gaffes.
  • Facing COVID, Biden has a legitimate reason to drop out without saying that he is weak to pressure
  • Trump is now the old and doddering candidate, turning much of the past brainwashing of Republican media on its head.
  • Trump will get bigly mad since the attention's going to be off of him. Potential for a stupid outburst.
  • The media will be hyperfocused on what's to come from the Dem campaign, an excellent opportunity to highlight Biden's achievements and articulate a bright future for the party and country.
  • The pre-emptive smears from Republicans are on their way, but the Dems are a moving target until they officially announce the ticket.

It relies on Democrats getting the message right though they'd faltered before. They get one more chance to fix it in this soft reset.

[–] ynthrepic@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Good post. Insert maybe maybe meme!

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, but none of these benefits are better than ending the uncertainty 2 weeks ago; at that point, the polling was clearly showing Biden was dropping in key swing states, and the party was starting to go into full panic mode, but he still let them twist in the win while he made up his mind. Hell, even if he made the announcement during the convention, he could have stolen some of Trump's publicity this week and forced a whole lot if RNC speakers to rewrite their speeches. Instead, he left the party in chaos for a month, then gave Trump a victory lap convention before finally stepping aside.

[–] dvoraqs@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

There were a lot of rumors and speculation about this possibility last week that I think did take a lot of attention away from the Republican convention.

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

True, but rumors and speculation make people think that the party is in chaos. Announcements and press conferences would have made it seem like the Democrats were mobilizing. I've heard a couple of people say that it was smart to do this right after the convention to blunt any polling bump Trump might get, but I think the whole RNC just came across like a victory lap, and now it looks like it culminated in Joe Biden's surrender.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

I was about to literally write the second half of your message then I saw you wrote it haha

[–] dudinax@programming.dev 0 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I'm glad you had the proper timing figured out better than anyone else.

[–] ABCDE@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Anyone? We were saying this 3-4 weeks ago. You can check my post history, The Rest is Politics, or most commentators.

Here's my post here with the BBC article referring to calls for him to step down.

https://lemmy.world/post/17162474?scrollToComments=true

[–] dudinax@programming.dev 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I don't doubt your sincerity, only your political wisdom.

[–] ABCDE@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago

Biden was not going to win.

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world -2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, you don't have to be a political genius to realize that almost four weeks of your own allies coming out and saying you need to step down is, ya know...bad. Like, maybe if your political implosion was creating a period of fear, uncertainty, and chaos, and there was you could do to end all that and restore order, you should do that quickly...like, as quickly as possible...as in, not nearly a month later.

[–] dudinax@programming.dev 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You don't have to be a genius to realize that just because an option is bad, that the alternative might still be worse. Waiting until after the RNC is far from stupid, for example.

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Is it worse though? Is nearly a full month of chaos and panic actually worth waiting until the end of the Republican Convention?

[–] dudinax@programming.dev 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

What about the chaos that would have ensued if Biden had just quit right away?

This kind of thing isn't supposed to happen. It was always going to cause chaos and problems for the Democrats, not to mention the rest of the country.

I'm not a great strategist. I don't know whether he should have waited or not. I do know you can't judge the decision by merely pointing out one-sided negatives.

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

I'm judging the decision by the three-dozen Democratic lawmakers who have been forced to slowly come forward and publicly ask him to step down. This should never have been this drawn out or public as Biden made it. Once it was clear that the rallies and the George Stephanopoulos interview weren't going to make this go away, he should have left the race. But instead, he tried to run out the clock until the Convention, wasting valuable time that could have been spent coordinating around Harris or executing the, "Blitz Primary," they were planning at the beginning of the month.