First debate of the cycle has a history tripping up former presidents

CNN —

Joe Biden was on cleanup duty.

The day was October 4, 2012, the morning after Barack Obama had turned in a debate performance so bad even Obama himself would come to judge it a “stinker.”

Flat, convoluted and passive, Obama’s turn at the podium was calamitous enough that aides backstage appeared paralyzed before emerging reluctantly to face reporters in the spin room.

It was left to Biden, the vice president, to stand outside a grocery store in Iowa and find a charitable way of describing his boss’s performance.

“He was presidential,” Biden offered, acknowledging later what had by then become obvious: “All debates are tough.”

Twelve years later, the memory of Obama’s tortured outing in Denver is lingering in the background as Biden undergoes practice sessions at Camp David ahead of his own first debate as an incumbent as he faces off with former President Donald Trump on Thursday in Atlanta.

Biden’s team — some of whom helped prepare Obama for his debates — undoubtedly hopes to elude a curse afflicting incumbents going back at least four decades: a weak first debate that left an opening for their rivals to gain the initiative.

“Presidents are steeped in prose. They haven’t debated in four years, they know a lot and they tend to want to defend their records,” said David Axelrod, a CNN contributor who served as a senior adviser to Obama and helped prepare him for the debates. “The wildcard here is Trump, who is also a former president and hasn’t debated in four years.”

Televised debates have long been a storied part of presidential campaigns, with history-making moments for candidates. Sitting presidents face the added challenge of delivering strong performances on a rare night the trappings of the