Joe Biden’s Graceful Exit
Weeks of tortured speculation about the country’s future should he stay in the race have finally come to their proper end.
Photographer: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images
“Old age,” lamented Trotsky, “is the most unexpected of all things that can happen to a man.” Joe Biden knows the feeling. Straining against every instinct of the career politician, not to mention human nature, he gave up the trappings of power for the good of the country on Sunday. It was the honorable choice.
Little doubt remained that he was simply too old for the fight ahead. Following his calamitous performance at the presidential debate on June 27, a steady stream of leaks attested to Biden’s diminished capacities. His polls cratered. Donors revolted and allies wavered. Even party eminences like Nancy Pelosi could offer only the most tepid support. Spin from the White House, increasingly tortured, fooled no one. The public saw what it saw, and the president was done.