Biden's Debate Disaster Changes Nothing. There's Only One Path: Forward.

During the 2020 campaign, I remember hosting a minister’s breakfast in South Carolina when Congressman Jim Clyburn leaned over and said to me that he would be endorsing Joe Biden. Even then, many discounted Biden and called him too old; not able to withstand the competition or win the election. He beat all the other Democratic presidential candidates and went on to defeat then-President Donald Trump. Time and again they say Biden isn’t up to the task, and time and again he delivers.

Over the course of the next few days and weeks, there will be extensive parsing of Biden’s and Trump’s first debate of the 2024 campaign, the ramifications for each candidate and for the election itself. Already, much of the coverage is zeroed in on Biden’s underperformance and on whether he should drop out of the race. Not only is this premature, but it is also highly insulting to dismiss a president’s entire track record and platform because of one bad debate several months out from November. Everyone is already chiming in and calling for him to step aside, but I would argue that the president himself is the only one who can even entertain this notion. The real question is: Has Biden not earned the right to make this decision himself?

Watching the debate Thursday evening, I’m reminded of my own words at the Democratic National Convention two decades ago: Our vote is soaked in the blood of martyrs, and it cannot be given away nor bargained away; those that earned our vote will get our vote.

It was Biden’s leadership that rescued us from the disastrous Trump presidency and helped the nation correct course. In the midst of a historic global pandemic (one that Trump downplayed and mishandled entirely, I might add), Biden stepped in and helped