The problem isn't just his age

I’m hearing more and more Democratic leaders, political strategists, and progressive pundits around the country say that although Joe Biden may be sharp and capable, he doesn’t seem like he is, and voters don’t believe he is.

In other words, the question isn’t whether Biden is capable of being president. It’s whether he’s capable of running for president and projecting the fitness a president needs. Increasingly, I’m hearing that he’s not, and that Biden must step aside and leave the task of choosing the next president to an open convention.

Let me summarize the argument (the clearest articulation is in a recent essay by Ezra Klein, whose points I’ll now highlight). Please note that I’m not endorsing this view. I’m giving it to you because it’s growing louder, and it’s important we debate it.

READ: Dirty Old Man: On the whitewashing of Trump's behavior by people who should know better

The reason Biden’s poll numbers remain low — and why he’s not getting credit for an increasingly good economy and everything else he’s accomplished — is the impression he’s giving of slowness and frailty. And it’s getting worse.

Yes, Trump is also old and mixes up names. But that’s not a reason to nominate Biden. It’s a reason to nominate a candidate who can exploit the fact that Trump is old and confused. The point is not to give Trump an even match. The point is to beat Trump.

Yes, Democrats have been winning, because there’s an anti-MAGA majority in this country. Biden won in 2020. Democrats won in 2022. They’ve been winning special elections in 2023. But because of public concerns about Biden’s age, there’s a very good chance he will lose. Trump has been ahead of Biden on every recent poll, despite his indictments. America needs better odds. Trump is a clear and present danger to our democracy, the Constitution, and the world.

Ageism is beside the point. Age discrimination is illegal in the workplace, but it is not illegal in the electorate. If the voters are ageist and Biden loses because of it, there’s no recourse. Voters cannot be sued for age discrimination.

It’s not too late for Biden to step aside. If he did, he’d be a hero. The party should help him find his way to being what he said he’d be in 2020: the bridge to the next generation of Democrats.

If he steps aside, Democrats could then do something that used to be common in politics but hasn’t been in decades: Pick their nominee at the convention. This is how parties chose their nominees for most of American history.

If Kamala Harris can convince delegates that she has the best shot at victory, fine. But there’s a ton of other talent in the Democratic Party right now: Gretchen Whitmer, Wes Moore, Jared Polis, Gavin Newsom, Raphael Warnock, Josh Shapiro, Cory Booker, Ro Khanna, Pete Buttigieg, Sherrod Brown, Gina Raimondo, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chris Murphy, Andy Beshear, J.B. Pritzker — the list goes on.

If there were to be an open convention, some of this talent would make a run at the nomination. They would give speeches at the convention, and people would pay attention. The whole country would be watching the Democratic convention and probably quite a bit happening in the run-up to it, and seeing what this political talent could actually do. And then a ticket would be chosen based on how those people did. It could make the Democrats’ convention the most exciting political show on earth.

On the other side will be Trump getting nominated by a who’s who of MAGA types slavering over his leadership. The contrast would pit the best of the Democratic Party against the worst of the Republican Party — a party that actually listened to the voters against a party that denies the outcome of the elections. A party that did something different over a party that has again nominated a threat to democracy who has never — not once — won the popular vote in a general election.

Again, let me emphasize that I’m not endorsing this view. This is a summary of Ezra Klein’s recent essay. I offer it today because this view is getting a large and increasingly positive response among Democratic leaders. It needs to be debated.

So this week’s Office Hours question: Should Biden step aside and allow Democrats to have an open convention to choose their presidential candidate?

Should Biden step aside and allow Democrats to have an open convention to choose the candidate?

NOW READ: If Biden is risky for the Democrats, Trump is far riskier for the GOP

Robert Reich is a professor at Berkeley and was secretary of labor under Bill Clinton. You can find his writing at https://robertreich.substack.com/.