Betwixt & Between

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, January 8, 2024. Stephanie Scarbrough/AP Photo

A terrific piece in The American Prospect echoes sentiments held by many Americans including yours truly as the distinct possibility of Biden losing to Agent Orange is no longer a long shot in any way, shape or fashion given the US foreign policy disasters Joe has created without understanding the true costs with disaster no. 1 being Ukraine and disaster no. 2, Israel, something akin to what happened in Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan, fubars one and all, perpetrated by our so-called leaders telling us great unwashed that they alone know what's best for a once great country known as America. The damage to the US is huge as the credibility of this once great nation is now in tatters, something the Repugs will jump on in the general election in an NYC second.

Reports of a private conversation between former President Obama and President Biden expressing Obama’s anguish about Biden losing the 2024 election are only the latest sign of well-informed panic in senior Democratic ranks. Several of us at the Prospect have entertained the thought that Biden is doomed and that the Democrats need to get another candidate.

Here’s the argument: A fresh face, a generation younger than Biden, would take the age issue off the table, and the geezer would be Trump. A new candidate would presumably be free of at least some of Biden’s baggage, namely a bout of inflation (that wasn't Biden’s fault) and two Biden wars that have become quagmires. Almost any of several possible alternatives is better than Biden speaking off the cuff.

IMHO, it's time to pull the plug on Biden but's there's no convenient off-ramp AFAIK.

Having entertained that fantasy, I need to say that there is no plausible scenario for replacing Biden with someone who would do better against Trump. If Biden were to stumble badly in the January 23 New Hampshire primary, where he is running an awkward write-in campaign, there would be a free-for-all. If Biden were to pull out after several key primary deadlines, if would fall to the Democratic National Committee to find a nominee. Good luck with that. Either scenario is a train wreck.

Betwixt & Between applies does it not?

And ... we haven't even talked about immigration.