We can’t change the past, but it’s hard to believe that a competitive primary in 2024 wouldn’t have helped our chances immensely.

Politico will never give a Black woman grace . . . The Atlantic did.

Goes into deep detail at how much she was sidelined by the Biden STAFF. Not him - the Staff.

If Biden leaves they're out of a job, out of positions of power.

Quite honestly, so was Joe. He believed he could beat t;$?+ again. We'll never know.

Kamala did her best under the circumstances. Picking Walz was brilliant and she ran a good campaign.

But too many people drank the orange Kool aid. Half the country chose the cult and are trying to kill us off with them.

Harris? Absolutely. Joe was in a situation of his own creation. It's unfortunate, too because maybe things would have gone differently had he done things differently. But seeking reelection, despite many Americans openly questioning his age and stamina for the job, and then struggling to find a message that helped alleviate those concerns, especially after his debate, is what put him in a tough spot and that was solely his own marking, unfortunately.

I think Biden did believe he could beat Trump again but his own polling told him he wasn't doing it and that should have been enough for him to maybe step aside and allow another Democrat the opportunity.

I do not believe Biden would have won in 2024 had he stayed in the race and nothing else changes (so still a bad debate, questions about his age, high inflation). But I suspect his legacy would be stronger today had he announced after a strong midterm showing by Democrats that he had done all he set out to do, oversaw the reopening of the economy, the successful rollout of the COVID vaccine and a return to normalcy and he would not seek a second term and therefore passing the torch onto the next generation.

Alas, in some ways history will always remember him as someone whose presidency gave way to Trump 2.0.

As most people who become president. I think Jill should've been the one to be more aware of the situation. He was old, barely gave press conferences, wasn't good on his feet. He only gave scripted speeches. His administration had terrible numbers due to inflation and it looked like he had no plan or solution for it. He had no business running for re-election. I think we needed a competitive primary. Harris would've been a better candidate had she won.

First, Joe should have bowed out gracefully in 2023, allowing for a full primary and general election

Second, he and the Democrats should touted their successes more. Joe pulled off a minor miracle righting our economy within four years, especially considering what a disaster Trump left. He was the right man at the right time for this job. But all of his success went under the radar and was drownedout by right-wing screaming lies 24/7. He, and the party needed to be more forceful, more vocal in publicizing those achievements.

Bonus mistake, Democrats need to master social media, develop a podcast presence, a Tik Tok team, etc. Obama started this, but after him it just kind of faded into the background. It can still be done, but there's a lot of catching up to do.

I think that would have made him look like even more of a statesman and quite possibly could have given him a larger election victory in 2020.

Should have been clear that Biden couldn't be the candidate then.

No party elites to weigh in? Staff were influencers. To my mind money and polling ran the operation. Marketing. Insufficient vision.

In 2008, Obama thought Republicans would work with him.

In 2012, Obama thought Republicans would work with him.

In 2015, Obama thought Republicans would uphold historical norms regarding Supreme Court appointments.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton thought no one could possibly buy the shit Donald Trump was selling.

In 2020, Joe Biden thought the spell would break and Republicans would return to their senses.

In 2024, Kamala Harris thought the appeal of Liz Cheney was... uh... somehow a good idea.

In terms of policy and governance Biden was the best of the 3 and (of course) the best president overall.

On the other hand, it was completely selfish of him to not step aside like he promised to allow for a full primary. All of that falls on one person.

I hope the people that said anyone questioning Biden "aren't real Democrats" or "want Trump to win" will learn a lesson.

"In terms of policy and governance," -- what difference does policy and governance matter when they are wiped away by Trump? When their lasting impact is only providing firewood for the unitary executive Trump to burn the country down.

The lasting impact of the Biden administration, tragically, is not his legislative achievements (they are being dismantled and perverted). The lasting impact was Trump getting elected with a grudge.

Biden in 2020 was a hero of the Republic who defeated neo-fascism at home. His decision that he was the 'Great Leader' surrendered his legacy and consigned him to President Trump interregnum.

He had the choice to keep a promise. No one needs to be President for 2 terms. It is arrogant to believe the country needs "me just me". That there is no one better. That there is no one with expertise and skills and an experience equal to the incumbent.

AND it did not need to be this way. The debate happened. They could have been honest, as they framed themselves. I saw with my own eyes what Republicans were saying. It might not have been the whole story, but it was political cyanide.

I was the POA for both of my parents in their last years as they went from living independently to going to assisted living and nursing homes and their final passing.

My mother was very smart, played piano for the church and read literally thousands of those romance novels. When she started forgetting to pay bills and other lapses we tried to get her doctor to help. He asked those stupid questions like who is presided and all it did was piss her off and make her mad we were insulting her intelligence. I am not sure she ever recognized her mental decline even though she stopped reading and playing the piano. For her she just did not 'feel like it'.

My impression was something similar happened with Joe Biden. I don't think this cognitive ability was gone, just sort of slowed down. He could still make the decisions he needed to in the job, it just took longer to process. But, I don't think there was any way he could have made it another four years. What did it for me is watching him make the baby step walking and just not the basic physical agility he had had just a year or two before. He and I think close staff just would not recognize this reality and it was not until he was put into the ring with Trump's endless stream of bullshit that he was just not agile enough to handle it was irrefutable.

I think that Trump's decline is much much worse that anything we have seen with Biden. His endless bullshit mimics some sort of smarts, but it is nearly entirely just moronic nonsense. But this is useful for creeps like Steven Miller to shape into their policies. Him joining Ivana on the 19th hole can't come soon enough.

They just thought she was a token to get the more liberal and younger crowd. The staff, Hunter, etc. wanted him to run again and thought they could pull it off. Until they couldn't. Obama and others saw through it and knew it spelled trouble and if I remember correctly, Biden's staff resented Obama for bringing out valid points on running the campaign.

By the time it was obvious that Biden had to step down, it was already too late. Even Trump knew if he stepped down earlier his chances were greatly diminished. It's why he threw a fuss when he finally did.

cornered Biden into putting her on the ticket in the first place.

This reminds me of what happened to Johnson who was forced out in 66 because of the war. Presidential Nixon ran and we had war for many years. Nixon was dishonorable in the end and Americans endured massive economic problems during those years.

I think Biden would have taken the rust belt, and if Democrats would have stood by him we would have won. I predicted (sorry as hell to be right) that Harris whom I really like did not appeal to the rust belt...First of all she is from California and there is a prejudice in the Midwest against California. I know this is stupid. But there it is. Also, I am saddened by my belief that women are not going to win the presidency in the current environment.

Also, Any serving president has the right to decide if he will run again. Candidates are free to join a primary and run against him. However, timing is everything. By the time Biden was forced out it was to late to mount an effective campaign as is historically the norm in these situations.

Biden was running tied in NY, which suggests that he'd need to spend money and time there, and NY ain't cheap.

I believe there were polls with Trump ahead 10 points in Virginia and other weird stuff like New Hampshire. Biden did not have a path to victory and all that was before the debate.

You are quite correct that it is every candidate's decision, and this is why we have primaries - and that we (kinda sorta) did, and we voted for Biden. It is an ethical inconsistency I cannot square within myself.

However -- while I do not believe that Joe Biden is suffering from dementia or was in mental decline, I do think he demonstrated that he was ill equipped to fight back against that narrative, and thus was rendered nonviable. Further, his seeming inability to conceive of this deficiency suggests (to me) a type of arrogance that was anathema to the Joe Biden I had known.

Not public poll ever showed. Such polls are mythical private polls that no one ever saw and many of them were funded by people who had an agenda to push Biden out of the race. This is more complicated then if Biden would've dropped out earlier we would've won. No one has won a Presidency in the modern era when the incumbent refused to seek re-election. The problem lies with the entire Democratic party. First not supporting the President and causing division by pushing him out in the middle of the election cycle. Not having effected surrogates to push back against the media as it was rehabilitating Trump's image and not investing in independent media. Then the mistake of the Harris campaign to overplay for conservative voters. Trying to convince suburban White women to not vote like their husbands is a losing strategy. More then any Presidential election in recent history this was the election to double down on the base. They should have spent more time in Atlanta,Philadelphia,Detroit etc.

Mistakes:

1- Biden should've announced he would only be a one term president after winning the election. Unfortunately, he looked much older than he is.

2*- Primaries - I get it, probably not enough time before the election.

3- A black woman - after a white woman couldn't beat him in 2016 - was never going to win.

The Democratic party is the most dysfunctional family. There is no "let's disagree but in the end pull together because if we don't we all lose" type unity/strategy. Way too much backstabbing if certain minority groups within the party don't get what they want. Pretty stupid and sad.