Ex-Barack Obama adviser Van Jones’ voice cracked as he searched for the words to describe Joe Biden’s disaster of a debate on Thursday, musing that Democrats may need a new candidate to oppose Donald Trump.
Jones, now a CNN political analyst, was among the first on the network to break down Biden’s performance, in which he sounded hoarse, gave incoherent answers, and looked lost for large swaths of the night.
“I love that guy. He’s a good man. He loves his country. He’s doing the best that he can,” Jones said of Biden. “But he had a test to meet tonight to restore the confidence of the country and of the base. And he failed to do that.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The comments from Jones, who’s never shied away from showing his admiration for Biden over the years, was an indictment on just how poorly the president performed.
Jones, like others on CNN’s post-debate panel, suggested its time for the DNC to seriously consider nominating someone new at the Democratic convention in August—though he stopped short at suggesting who that someone should be.
“We’re still far from our convention and there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward,” he said. “But that was not what we needed from Joe Biden and, personally, it was painful for a lot of people. It’s not just panic, it’s the pain of what we saw tonight.”
Jones added that Biden lost it “in the first three minutes.” Countless other analysts have noted the same—that Biden, who could barely be understood, struggled to speak clearly when given the first question of the night. He appeared frail and unfocussed, which, at 81, is the exact opposite of what his camp were hoping he’d portray.
John King, CNN’s chief national correspondent, was the first analyst to break down Biden’s “dismal” performance post-debate, likely with many eyes from the spectacle still glued to the network in shock. He spoke pointedly about Biden’s failures to fact check Trump and claimed that Democrats across the country were blowing up his phone, worried that a ticket with Biden at the top would hurt every Democrat below him.
“The panic that I am hearing from Democrats is not like anything that I have heard,” he said.
King noted that Biden even struggled to make any sense even when talking about his own policy beliefs—particularly on abortion, a hugely important issue for Democrats this cycle.
“Biden’s answers were, in a lot of cases, not coherent,” he said. “Deeply problematic that he was not able to take pretty straightforward answers and answer them to the American public.”
Jones and King were joined by a chorus of other voices—who are typically sympathetic to Biden—who felt similarly. CNN commentator Abby Phillip said “there’s been some real damage done that cannot be undone,” and a Democratic strategist told NBC News the party had “committed collective suicide.”
David Axelrod, a CNN star and chief architect of former President Barack Obama’s electoral victories, got straight to the point on Thursday night: Democrats need to have serious discussions about replacing Biden if they want to have any shot in November in any competitive race.
“There was a sense of shock. There will be a discussion about whether he should continue,” Axelrod said, referencing Biden. “It’s one night that helped confirm people’s fears. It’s the one-night event everybody was watching.”
Meanwhile, Chris Wallace said on CNN that the debate “has been, quite frankly, a car accident in slow motion.” Biden, he added, “sunk his campaign.”
