Thank God for That

Allow me to summarize the response from outside America to the news that President Joe Biden is not running for reelection: Thank God.

Here in Britain, the most common reaction in the minutes after the news broke was sheer relief. Relief that Donald Trump will not be allowed an easy path to a second term. Relief that the Democrats will put forward a candidate who is able to bear a full campaign schedule—defending the party’s record and advancing its best arguments. Relief, too, that the party would not be insulting the intelligence of voters by insincerely pushing a candidate that its leaders must have understood was a lemon.

The last of those has dominated my thinking since the disastrous CNN debate in June. Imagine that Biden’s staffers had gently shepherded him over the line, coaching him through interviews and propping him up through public events. Imagine that Biden had somehow won the election despite the evidence of the polls—and then, disaster. Within months or weeks, it surely would have become apparent that he was unable to serve a full term.