Aren't they both "senile knocking on death’s door old man"

Clown fucking world.

No, the immediate problem is that we know that people make decisions based on a vibe and who orates better and (out of all of the qualified people in the country) we still hang our hat (and the future of the country) on a poor orator with a bad vibe. It’s 2016 all over again and it seems like nobody’s learned a thing.

This shouldn’t be a hard race at all. Why are we insisting on handicapping ourselves like this?

The problem is that the people who agree with your statement aren't the ones who we need to convince.

In my view too much is on the line to run Biden. He needs to voluntarily step down where then any younger fresh face that isn't Kamala can win simply by peoples' excitement for something different and youthful.

I'm sorry if I'm repeating some other response; often my Lemmy client can't load sub comments, and I see you already have 6.

I think we're voting for Kamala. She's not running because she can't win, not against Trump, and probably not against anyone else. She's even more unpopular than Biden, and the Right would have a field day if she were the front runner.

But, frankly, side by side, Trump looks more healthy and robust than Biden, and it's saying something. If Biden is elected, Kamala will be president before the end of his term.

I don't know if that's terrible; I don't particularly care for her, but she's better than Trump, and is on the right side of most of the issues I care about. Also, if she did a decent job and had some luck, she'd be able to run again for a second term, and we could get an unusual streak of three liberal(ish) terms.

As for Biden, a president's staff does most of the real work of any president; I think of a president more like the captain of a large ship: they take a lot of input from the crew, and make decisions. They don't gather the information or touch the controls; as long as they have a competent team, I suspect nearly anyone could functionally be president. As long as he's mentally capable of processing the information he's given and making rational decisions, he can do his job. I'm just no longer convinced he's going to be capable of that for a full term, and the way he's looking, I wouldn't be surprised if he physically failed in the next 4 years.

So: President Harris. I just hope they're putting effort into making sure she can step into the shoes quickly. If Biden can even win this election.

Biden, though. Dude's looking like Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China.

Ughh that’s what Neolibs and the DNC said 4 years ago when they force-fed the left Joe Biden

it just needs to not be trump, so let's punt on the election?

I don’t know the specific problem with that pollster but the general message of the headline still stands IMO.

Trump’s debate performance was awful, but so was Biden’s, and somehow because this country is weird as hell Biden is held to a much higher standard than Trump while also being immensely unpopular.

I gotta say, I recognized both of those debate performances. One of them's the angry grandfather who's always complaining that his foreign neighbor is stealing his trash; the other's the nice grandpa who calls you by your cousin's name, then gives you $5 to go to a movie.

I wouldn't want either to babysit my kids - Trump because he'd steal my TV and throw out my avocados; Biden because he'd fall down the stairs and let the kids stay up to midnight eating ice cream.

But a President's job isn't really to be a subject matter expert on every policy. He's there to assemble a good team of policy matter experts and balance the needs of normal people against the power of megacorporations. And we have the rare opportunity to judge both grandpas on their past performance: Jared Kushner, Secretary of Everything; Janet Yellen vs Steve Mnuchin; Rick Perry vs Jennifer Granholm; Jeff Sessions & William Barr vs Merrick Garland.

Ehh, I'd say he was more boringly safe, especially for a lot of his in-country policy stuff.

And that's a good thing. The presidency is not meant to be glorious, exciting, or full of media magnet bombshells. Those generally mean that something has gone wrong.

Hahahha. Your not wrong.

You know who just had the opportunity to focus on what Trump did (and is doing) wrong and flubbed it? Biden.

A vote for Biden is the easiest decision I'll make this year. Biden and his administration are doing solid work and I want to see more of it. Trump ensures genocide in Gaza. Trump ensures even more horrible acts in Ukraine by Russia. Trump ensures an even further conservative Supreme Court, further destroying and reversing settled law. Another 4 years of Trump will be a disaster.

But I know this already.

Any other generic Democrat would have kicked Trump's ass last night. Trump tells a lie, they correct it. Biden got a few blows in but he flubbed so many more.

Look at abortion, a layup for Democrats. America as a whole agrees with Democrats on the issue. What did Biden do? Fumbled and wandered into something about immigration.

The focus on Biden because we want better. Biden is better. Prove it.

Trump was Trump, as expected. There's nothing more to be said about him that hasn't already been said.

People keep disregarding the substance of his arguments

Speaking as someone who thinks that much of the doomerism around the debate is premature...

These debates aren't about substance. They're about optics. And Biden didn't put on a good show last night. The only saving grace is that he was up against Trump.

Biden did well after 930pm.

I bet most people only watched the first 30 minutes. In fact, I bet most people went into their phones and stopped listening full-time within 10 minutes.

Biden was very bad at the start. Biden figured out the flow of things by 10pm but I think that was too late.