Barack Obama, Like the Rest of the Nation, Is Worried About November

The last six days have been a dark time for Americans who don’t want an aspiring dictator to be the next president of the United States. Unfortunately, thanks to an objectively terrible debate performance by Joe Biden, that might actually happen—and thanks to the Supreme Court, Donald Trump has been given the green light to govern like an actual dictator, should he return to the White House. But, hey, the good news is that—no, just kidding, we don’t have any good news. Though perhaps one can take comfort in the fact that even Barack Obama is said to be scared shitless about November, in a sort of “we’re all in this together” way. Yes, the bar is that low!

The Washington Post reports that Obama “has privately told allies who have reached out to him that President Biden’s already tough path to reelection grew more challenging after his shaky debate performance on Thursday—a harsher assessment of the presidential race than his public comments, according to several people familiar with his remarks.” Was the 44th president watching the debate with his hands covering his eyes? Did Michelle have to literally pull him off the ledge after Biden said he “beat Medicare”? That is not clear, but what is clear is that, in private, the guy is as worried as millions of other Americans. (A spokesperson for Obama declined the Post’s request for comment.)

That collective fear was presumably not moderated by another report on Tuesday, from The New York Times, that “In the weeks and months before President Biden’s politically devastating performance on the debate stage in Atlanta, several current and former officials and others who encountered him behind closed doors noticed that he increasingly appeared confused or listless, or would lose the thread of conversations.” According to the outlet:

Like many people his age, Mr. Biden, 81, has long experienced instances in which he mangled a sentence, forgot a name or mixed up a few facts, even though he could be sharp and engaged most of the time. But in interviews, people in the room with him more recently said that the lapses seemed to be growing more frequent, more pronounced and more worrisome. The uncomfortable occurrences were not predictable, but seemed more likely when he was in a large crowd or tired after a particularly bruising schedule.

On June 10, he appeared to freeze up at an early celebration of the Juneteenth holiday. On June 18, his soft-spoken tone and brief struggle to summon the name of his homeland security secretary at an immigration event unnerved some of his allies at the event, who traded alarmed looks and later described themselves as “shaken up,” as one put it. Mr. Biden recovered, and named Alejandro N. Mayorkas.

As the Times notes, Biden is “certainly not that way all the time,” and aides and other people who saw him in the days following the debate reported him being “alert, coherent, and capable, engaged in complicated and important discussions, and managing volatile crises.” People familiar with the matter also cited his performance in the Situation Room the night Iran fired missiles and drones at Israel, saying he was “in commanding form” while speaking to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Neera Tanden, Biden’s domestic policy adviser, told the Times the president is “inquisitive,” “focused,” and “sharp,” and that during briefings, “He will ask you a tough question and he will say, ‘How does this relate to an average person?’ And if you haven’t thought of that in that time, you have to come back to him.” Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Biden’s homeland security adviser, said that during a briefing in the Situation Room less than two weeks before the debate, the president “digested an immense amount of information” and asked her questions that were “probing and insightful.” She said his performance on the debate stage “doesn’t reflect the experience I have with him on a daily basis.”

Obviously, from a reelection perspective, though, things are not good. In a sign of just how serious the situation is, a Times report on Wednesday said that Biden “has told a key ally that he knows he may not be able to salvage his candidacy if he cannot convince the public in the coming days that he is up for the job after a disastrous debate performance last week.” To that end, betting sites believe Vice President Kamala Harris will be the Democratic nominee. (A White House spokesman told the Times the claim re: Biden potentially dropping out is “absolutely false.”)

Yet whether it’s Biden or Harris (or someone else entirely) on the ballot, it’s important to remember who the alternative is. And if the worst thing about Biden is his forgetfulness, well, as the Times notes: