Dem Debate: Biden Does Better, but He Really Isn’t Very Good at This

Two days and nearly six hours of live coverage later, we are finally through with July’s round of the Democratic debates. Republicans’ first televised forum of the last cycle came toward the end of the first week of August 2015. As we enter that same month in the current cycle, Democrats have already had four debates. It’s all too early, both debates were too long, and there were far too many candidates involved. That will all finally start to change before the next battle arrives in September, thanks to more stringent qualification thresholds. As for last night, my quick reactions were as follows:

Joe Biden is, and will remain, the frontrunner — at least for the time being, and perhaps for the distance. He was flat-out bad in Miami, but was better prepared last evening, helping him survive quite a lot of incoming fire. He counter-punched here and there, blunting and parrying certain attacks more effectively than he did last time. But I’m just going to say it: To me, he really reads like a genial old man who’s past his prime, and might be on the verge of being well past his prime. He is not sharp. He is not quick. He uses filler words and labors to organize his thoughts and sentences. He stops talking mid-sentence when his time has expired, almost as if he’s relieved that he doesn’t have to keep going. It’s entirely conceivable that he will be considered the safest and most viable choice for the Democrats, will lead wire to wire, and will be nominated. It’s also conceivable that he could be underwhelming as a general election candidate in some significant ways, yet still win.

But once again, despite his relative improvement, Biden’s overall performance — setting ideology completely aside — would not give me confidence about entering a bruising general election slog with him at helm. It’s a feeling I had watching him last month, and I just felt it again. Even the flubs during his closing statement (“eight more years” of Trump, and the text message debacle) invoked images of an aging actor who couldn’t remember his lines, and a grandparent who doesn’t understand texting. It feels a bit mean and unseemly typing those words, frankly, but it’s right in front of us, yes? I’m not alone in seeing these things, right? (Read more from “Dem Debate: Biden Does Better, but He Really Isn’t Very Good at This” HERE)

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