Biden’s friends and Democratic strategists pick up pieces a day after debate questioning his performance and electability

One day after President Joe Biden stammered through his debate performance, disappointed Democrats — friends, Congress members and strategists alike — questioned why the president is running again and how he was allowed on stage.

Democrats had hoped the debate would serve as a launch for the Biden campaign, which largely went unchallenged. Officials viewed the night as the opportunity to see if the 81-year-old president was up for another term, let alone a campaign. But, after Biden mumbled, lost his thought, and seemed out-of-place, his biggest backers now wonder about his future.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who considers Biden his “friend” was blunt in his assessment.

“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 re-election,” he wrote Monday morning.

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

And Friedman wasn’t the only Biden confidant to feel that way.

“There are going to be discussions about if he should continue,” said David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, moments after the debate.

Another former Obama adviser-turned CNN analyst, Van Jones, praised Biden as being a “good man,” but said he “failed” to reassure the country that he could confidently serve as commander-in-chief.

“We’re still far from our convention and there is time for this party to