ATLANTA (AP) — Above all,
Joe Biden’s allies wanted him to demonstrate strength and energy on the debate stage to help put to rest
questions about the 81-year-old Democrat’s physical and mental acuity.
But on the biggest stage in U.S. politics on Thursday night, Biden did not meet their modest expectations.
And by the end of the 90-minute
showdown, the Democratic president’s allies — party strategists and rank-and-file voters alike — descended into all-out panic following a debate performance punctuated by repeated stumbles, uncomfortable pauses, and a quiet speaking style that was often difficult to understand. Publicly and privately, Democrats questioned whether the party
could or should replace him as the party’s presidential nominee against the 78-year-old Republican former President Donald Trump this fall.
“I’m not the only one whose heart is breaking right now. There’s a lot of people who watched this tonight and felt terribly for Joe Biden,” former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill said on MSNBC. “I don’t know if things can be done to fix this.”
The biggest question for Biden is whether the damage is permanent. Many voters have not yet tuned into an election that’s still more than four months away.
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