The Perfect Candidate Should Biden Step Down (It Will Never Happen, But We Can Dream)

From fiery rallies to his sit-down interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos last Friday, President Joe Biden has vowed to stay in the race, that his debate performance last month was a one-off and that he’s in it to win it.

Still, speculation remains rampant, from wonks to regular folks, about what should come next, and who. None of the names suggested, including Vice President Kamala Harris, have generated much excitement, let alone a belief that they could beat the likely Republican nominee, Donald Trump. Is there anyone out there right now who would be a stronger candidate than Joe Biden?

There might be: Michelle Obama.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week indicated that the former first lady would trounce Trump in a hypothetical matchup. She whipped him by an 11-percentage-point margin, 50% to 39%, among the respondents (11% said they wouldn’t vote, would vote for another candidate or didn’t know).

The poll found Trump beating each Democratic governor floated as a potential replacement for Biden: Gavin Newsom of California, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois.

The idea of Michelle Obama running for office isn’t new. But it has almost always been an unserious musing since she has repeatedly said she has no interest in running. “Being president was my husband’s dream, not mine,” she’s often said.

Then again, the call to serve your country can prove hard to resist. You often hear that when the president asks you to serve, you don’t say no. What if it’s the country that’s asking, and doing so out of desperation?

She knew those stakes four years ago. “Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country,” she said during her keynote speech at the 2020 Democratic