NY Times opinion writer: ‘Joe Biden should not be running for re-election’
NY Post
New York Times opinion writer Ross Douthat called for President Biden to step aside, citing the 81-year-old’s “decline” in a surprise Saturday op-ed.
“Joe Biden should not be running for re-election,” Douthat wrote. “Saying that things have worked OK throughout this stage of Biden’s decline, though, is very different from betting that they can continue working out OK for almost five long further years.”
The political columnist continued: “And saying that Biden is capable of occupying the presidency for the next 11 months is quite different from saying that he’s capable of spending those months effectively campaigning for the right to occupy it again.”
While Douthat suggested Biden not drop out “today or tomorrow or any day when party primaries are still proceeding,” he said the president should continue to accumulate pledged delegates until August.
At that point, Douthat said, the president should “announce his withdrawal” from the race at the Democratic National Convention and have the delegates “choose his replacement” — which would be a shocking turn of events.
Douthat cited special counsel Robert Hur’s report on the president’s retention of classified documents, in which he described the president as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
