EDITORIAL: Democrats ‘despair’ over President Biden

The White House facade came crashing down that evening as President Joe Biden — having been sequestered for a week to prepare — looked worn and weary from the start. At times, he struggled to string together coherent sentences. His delivery was halted and confused.

During a question on immigration, Mr. Biden rambled on.

“Look, there’s so many young women who have been — including a young woman who just was murdered and he — he went to the funeral. The idea that she was murdered by a — by — by an immigrant coming in, and they talk about that,” he said. “But here’s the deal, there’s a lot of young women who are being raped by their — by their in-laws, by their — by their spouses, brothers and sisters, by — just — it’s just — it’s just ridiculous. And they can do nothing about it. And they tried to arrest them when they cross state lines.”

During another exchange, the president lost his train of thought as he attempted to attack the Trump tax cuts and advocate for higher levies.

“We’d be able to help make sure that all those things we need to do — child care, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our health care system, making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the — with — with — with the COVID. Excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with — look, if — we finally beat Medicare.”

For three years, White House aides have publicly insisted that Joe Biden is sharp as a tack, that concerns about his advancing age and declining mental state are partisan hit jobs. When a special prosecutor concluded that he wouldn’t charge Mr. Biden for improperly handling classified documents in part because he was “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” he faced vicious attacks from Democrats, who insisted this was a false portrayal.

Turns out that’s fake news. The country — indeed the world — has now seen otherwise.

Democrats responded to the debate debacle with a combination of panic and desperation. “Practically in despair,” The New York Times noted, “some took to social media to express shock, while others privately discussed among themselves whether it was too late to persuade the president to bow out in favor of a younger candidate.”

Mr. Biden explained Friday that he simply had an off night and that he wasn’t going anywhere. But if party members insist on staying loyal to the president, they’ll be doing him a grave injustice. They’ll also face significant challenges over the next four months trying to convince vital swing voters that they didn’t actually see what they know they saw on Thursday night.

As for Mr. Trump, his performance was average, but that was enough to overwhelm the befuddled president. Mr. Trump displayed a more subdued persona for the most part, but his penchant for exaggeration, deflection and hyperbole remain.

It’s unfortunate that many significant policy differences between the former and current presidents became secondary during the debate thanks to Mr. Biden’s obvious limitations. Voters deserve a comprehensive discussion from the candidates on the issues that most concern Americans. Sadly, it’s not clear Mr. Biden is capable of participating in that anymore.