Jamie Metzl, who worked for President Biden Joe Biden, who served as deputy staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during the Clinton administration and while Biden was a senator, told Fox News Digital that the president should not accept the nomination for the Democratic ticket after Biden’s debate performance.
“I have tremendous respect for Joe Biden. He’s my former boss. I think he’s a great guy and a great American patriot. But I think most people who watched him at the debate last night would have to come to the conclusion that he doesn’t have 4½ healthy years left where he can perform at the highest level necessary for president of the United States,” said Metzl, author of the book “Superconvergence: How the Genetics, Biotech, and AI Revolutions Will Transform Our Lives, Work, and World.”
“Therefore, it is with a very heavy heart and profound sadness that I have come to the conclusion that the best course of action for the Democratic Party and the country would be for President Biden to announce that he will not seek the Democratic Party’s nomination as a candidate for president,” Metzl said.
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Metzl said he believes Biden has done a “fantastic” job in his first term, saying that before he took office, “there were major attacks on our democracy and literally an attack on our Capitol. Our alliances were in shambles. So, I think President Biden has actually done a pretty good job. Of course, it’s not perfect. And there are a lot of things that I and we should be critical of.”
He said calling for Biden to step down “is not a statement about his performance in his first term as president. It’s a statement about what it takes to be president of the United States for four years. And, unfortunately, Joe Biden, who I respect so much, I don’t think has that ability anymore.”
Jamie Metzl, who worked for President Biden on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Biden was a senator, told Fox News Digital that the president should not accept the nomination for the Democratic ticket after Thursday night’s debate performance. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Metzl explained that he worked with Biden nearly 25 years ago, and that he noticed a “clear difference” between Biden then and now.
“And that’s perfectly normal. We all have parents and grandparents, and we see that age is a big deal, even for a dynamic person like President Biden,” Metzl said. “When you get into your 80s, time takes its toll on all of us. So, I have a lot of respect for him, but I think we in the Democratic Party need to be brutally honest with ourselves. Because, if we don’t, the voters will certainly be brutally honest with us in November.”
Open conference
Metzl said the Democratic Party has an open convention provision, ,I think it would be a mistake to start this process then, because the person who is going to be the nominee has to have legitimacy. Not just by being selected at the convention, but through some sort of popular participation and popular process. So, I think President Biden should announce that he will not seek the nomination sometime in the next few days, and whoever wants to move forward should do so.”
He suggested that over the next month, candidates could hold weekly debates about the major candidates, as well as “old-fashioned retail politics on a large scale, where these candidates have to explain in a very brief period of time who they are and what they stand for and communicate that to voters. This is not something that is going to be spontaneous. It would have been much better if we had started with a regular primary election a year ago. But we’re here now and I think we should make the most of it.”
Metzl described watching the debate Thursday night as “very painful.” (Lokan Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Biden faced no serious primary challengers and quickly became the presumptive Democratic nominee. His team also insisted Friday that he would not consider dropping out of the race.
,I don’t know what’s realistic and what’s not,” Metzl said when asked if Biden would consider pulling out. “I certainly know that if President Biden and his team had said this morning, ‘We’re thinking about what the next step is,’ it would have been game over by that point. So, they almost have to say now, ‘We’re in it to win it.'”
‘private conversation’
“And the question is, what will happen in the next few days? Perhaps there will be additional surveys that will provide information. Perhaps, very likely, there will be private conversations. But I think that, after last night’s performance, it will be impossible for President Biden to reintroduce himself to the American people.”
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Metzl said there are several Democratic candidates who could replace Biden, including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, California Governor Gavin Newsom Or Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
,I certainly think there are some strong candidates,” he said. “But the problem is, in our system, it takes a long primary year in many cases for people to get to know a candidate. Bill Clinton, Barack Obama were relatively unknown when they announced they were running for president.
“And it took a lot of give and take in the primaries for voters to get to know them. So, it’s going to be a very tough job for people, whether they’re governors or senators or others who aren’t very well known among the general public, to become well known enough in the next month or so to create some favorable conditions for them before they get to the Democratic convention in August.”
The first of two presidential debates between Biden and Trump took place on Thursday. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Metzl acknowledged that it would be hard for any replacement candidate to beat Trump, but said, ,I think it’s possible. I don’t think so Donald Trump He’s a strong candidate, and I don’t think the American people benefited from this election.
Can Biden be replaced as the Democratic Party’s candidate? How can this extraordinary step be taken?
“President Biden is clearly looking his age, and it was clear from last night’s debate that President Trump has no remorse, and he stands with the attacks on the United States Capitol, stands with his efforts to undermine the structures of American democracy, stands with his efforts to cast doubt on our entire electoral system. And, so, I’m certainly not a fan of Donald Trump. I believe Donald Trump is a huge threat to American democracy. But President Biden is not projecting the level of passion that would give voters confidence that he’s going to be able to carry out the responsibilities of the president over the next four and a half years.”
time to move on
He said that if Metzl could speak to Biden, he would tell him, “President Biden, you are my personal hero. You are a man of great morals and great integrity. You have made enormous contributions to this country that you love. And now for your perhaps last and greatest act of patriotism, it is time for you to pass the torch to a new generation.”
But Metzl said he would still vote for Biden if he was running in November because he believes Trump is “unfit to be president of the United States.”
“By casting doubt on an electoral system that was, by all accounts, the cleanest election in American history, by supporting an attack on our own nation’s capital, Donald Trump has, in my view, rendered himself unfit for this role,” Metzl said.
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Metzl said it would be difficult for him to “change his mind” about Biden after the debate.
,“Everybody watched the experience of last night’s debate,” he said. “It was very painful. It was very sad. I felt like it was like King Lear. And while I have a lot of love and respect for President Biden, I believe the time has come. And I believe he has one last great act of patriotism left. And I believe making a statement that he will not accept the party’s nomination for president is that statement.”
