This is the message that experienced parents want to convey very clearly: it's totally fine to not wear underwear today. It's entirely up to you. However, all big kids wear underwear. Big kids can wear as much underwear as they want. But if you don't think so, oh, you do “You want some underwear after all? Whatever. I'll leave it on the bed.”
After all, Biden has already announced what he's going to do – continue to campaign – and Pelosi's suggestion seemed like a face-saving way for Biden to change his mind, a way to make it seem like if Biden really did step aside, it would be because he was independent, patriotic, put on his grown-up pants and made his own plan, rather than because someone pressured him.
We appear to have entered the second rhetorical phase in the national project of managing the presidential ego. After the hellish debate on June 27, the first phase was a direct appeal to Biden to step aside. Listen to Focus group after the discussion! look poll! — Similar remarks were made by other lawmakers, including Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.).
These direct appeals were unsuccessful. “I don't think that's my approval rating,” Biden told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, who confronted him about his 36 percent approval rating in an interview last week. Biden defiantly said he would continue the campaign unless “God Almighty” told him to pull out, which frankly is asking a lot of God. Does God still speak through burning bushes? What about dumpster fires?
Six states are in the running, according to the latest data from the Cook Political Report. Post-debate analysis has shown growing support for Trump, including in three battleground states that Biden won in 2020. The latest Wisconsin poll has Biden trailing Trump by five percentage points. The data appears personal, as Biden is also trailing Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. A national CNN poll conducted by SSRS last week found that three-quarters of registered voters think the Democratic Party would fare better with a candidate other than Biden.
Biden's origin story is one of stubbornness, “Victory was always a matter of mustering enough courage,” Franklin Fore wrote eloquently in The Atlantic. The more Biden is told to step down, Fore predicted, the less motivated he will be to actually step down.
Gone are the days of rigid demand enforcement. Now we are hearing a different, more self-aware approach.
“Self-sacrifice takes special courage, and that's the kind of courage I believe Joe Biden is capable of,” CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert said Monday. “… I think he's a good enough person. He's a good enough president to put the needs of the country above his own ego.”
Was Colbert calling for Biden to resign? Not explicitly. He was simply implying that only a leader of truly exemplary character is capable of doing what needs to be done, and Biden happens to be such a leader.
“I've spoken to him many times,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, told reporters on Monday. “He's been very clear then and since that he's in this race. This matter is settled…. Joe Biden is our nominee.”
Some news outlets interpreted that last bit as an endorsement, which it may have been, but “Joe Biden is our nominee” has the flat, plaintive air of a Dwight Schrute-planned nominating convention; it reads like a blinking Morse code rendition.
Imagine for a moment, asking someone if they love their wife and getting an answer like this: “She is very clear about her commitment to this marriage. “This is it… she is my wife.” Does this sound like a healthy marriage? Would you bet the future of your country on it?
“He's our nominee for president,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told reporters Wednesday.
“The president is the nominee,” said Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nevada), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Imagine that written on a yard sign.
Let me be clear: I'm no pollster or prophet, and even those who are don't seem to know what the most winning strategy for the Democrats is.
But I know a thing or two about rhetoric, and I find the current rhetoric unfortunate because it's more about those in power gently skirting soft egos than speaking hard truths. We have to figure out how to handle a man who seems more of a rebellious personality than a responsive one. We treat the leader of the free world as a toddler who needs to be cajoled out the door, rather than as a leader who can speak frankly about the best decisions for the country as a whole.
