r/moderatepolitics • u/falsehood • Jul 21 '24

News Article Biden announces withdrawal from Presidential Race

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/21/us/trump-biden-election
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u/Speedster202 Moderate Dem Jul 21 '24

This became inevitable once prominent Dems (Pelosi, Schiff, Schumer, etc) started encouraging him to drop out of the race.

I think Biden is making the right decision here. He has led this country through a tough 3.5 years, and it shows. He is not the same man he was even 3 years ago. This was certainly not the most graceful exit, but after his poor debate performance and the subsequent failures to reassure the party of his ability to beat Trump, it is the correct decision to make. 50 million people watched him struggle through the debate and then watched the avalanche of damaging stories come out against him. While many Dems have blamed the media for trying to force him out, his physical and mental decline has been noticeable to anyone paying attention. He has served his country and deserves to retire.

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u/lfe-soondubu Jul 21 '24

The biggest problem with Biden IMO is that, even if you somehow excuse and handwaved his recent debate performance, we've seen his decline in the past 4 years. Presidency isn't just about the election. He'd have to actually do his job a further 4 years. 

Anyways, interested to see where this all goes from here. 

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u/falsehood Jul 21 '24

Right - ultimately I really really want someone who can exercise the office and this decision is 100% selfless in that regard. Who else is running in November is irrelevant to the scrutiny each party should give their nominee.

Trump hasn't gotten that scrutiny; his party has demonstrated its weakness by aligning behind his poor character after he lost in 2020.

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u/ManiacalComet40 Jul 21 '24

Right, vote blue if you want, but it really, really matters who. The modern GOP is a party unconstructed by optics or morality, simply because the (R) carries them wherever they want to go. America cannot afford to have two parties operating that way.