When Barbara Boxer Arrived at the US Senate, His image is that of a fiery temperament Libertarian from Marin County – the land of crystals, hot tubs and old hippies – was there before him.
This was not a good thing.
“It was said that I was this fierce feminist, and people were very scared of that,” Boxer recalled.
The colleague who smoothed his path — “They’re good people,” he assured the Old Bulls — was Joe Biden, who by 1993 had begun his second decade on Capitol Hill.
The two became closer personally and politically.
“We really connected with each other Protection of dolphins And safety of women, Boxer touts her legislative work (regulating purse seine nets, cracking down on domestic violence), which began in the 1980s. She was in the house.
Boxer supported Biden when he ran for president in 1988 and Again in 2020, In particular, Kamala Harris, the Democrat who replaced him in the Senate, was sidelined.
Seeing all this, the boxer and his family members were stunned to see Biden Grumble and grumble She got her way after his poor performance in the debate last week. “This was not the Joe we knew,” she said. “Something was wrong.”
What had been a persistent low-level nervousness among Democrats quickly turned into anxiety. Absolute party mania. A small but growing voice calls out The current president is 81 years old He should drop out of the presidential race before it’s too late and he drags his party down with him. (Many others express the same sentiment privately.)
Boxer isn’t there yet. At least, not yet.
He said, “Two weeks.” Give Biden two weeks to prove that his zombie-like appearance in Atlanta was an aberration.
“The guy has done it over and over again,” Boxer said this week from his home in Palm Springs. “Every time he’s been knocked out, he’s come back. Can he do it again? I don’t know the answer to that. But out of respect and admiration for what he’s done, let’s give him the time he needs to do it.”
“And if he can’t, he can’t,” said the boxer, “and somebody else will.”
It’s not really a sticking point as long asthe-last-dog-dies Endorsement.
But it’s also not throwing a seriously wounded Biden to the wolves.
When the late Senator Dianne Feinstein was going through her journey Widely described mental and physical deterioration, there were extensive asked him to step down And make way for someone younger, more passionate and more acerbic. Boxer, who made history when he was elected to the Senate alongside Feinstein, offered a gentle nod. There is life after leaving the Senate – and a good one – he advised his former colleague In a 2021 interview.
But Boxer never openly pressured Feinstein the way he did Many others did so too. his companions The Democrat died in September at the age of 90, a few hours later Casting your final vote on the floor of the Senate.
The situation with Biden is different, Boxer said.
“We don’t know what happened to Joe,” she said, adding she was still confused nearly a week later.
he speculated. Perhaps the studio lights were the cause of his stuttering? Perhaps Biden had a bad cold or was taking cold medicine?
“I think the president owes the country an explanation,” Boxer said. And most importantly, she added, he needs to show voters that he can not only take on Donald Trump, but defeat him in November.
“He should come out without a script. Without a teleprompter and just face the press and the public,” he said. “That’s very important.”
Biden has made few public appearances, including a relatively rousing performance at a rally in North Carolina the day after the debate. He spoke to reporters after the Supreme Court’s full powers ruling granting presidents nearly absolute immunity, And then at an emergency operations center in Washington discussing the country’s hot weather.
But Biden declined to answer reporters’ questions, using a teleprompter.
The president’s first appearance without internet is a scheduled interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Friday. The stakes are high. Another faltering performance could unleash a flood of calls from Democrats to remove Biden from office.
Meanwhile, polls taken after Thursday night’s debate show Biden is losing ground to Trump and Voters expressed deep concern About the President’s mental and cognitive health.
Like many, Boxer speaks of Trump’s restoration in apocalyptic terms.
“This race is like no other race,” he said. “We have to stop a man who says he’s going to be a ‘dictator from day one.’ Who wants to imprison his opponents. … It’s getting worse every day.”
He praised Biden’s performance over the past three and a half years: record of employment generation, discussion on climate change, to fight Reducing the cost of prescription drugs. But that’s all in the past, and none of it matters much to voters who are currently worried and wondering about Biden’s future abilities.
Democrats are nervous, Boxer said. “I’m nervous. I’m very nervous.”
But he’s still willing to give Biden another chance to make a political comeback. Two weeks, he said. “Because we have our convention in August, and if there’s going to be an open convention, people need time to decide who they’re going to support.”
It is far from “Biden or bust.” It shows that even the best of friends and greatest fans have limits to their hope and patience with a president whose mental and physical capacities are so fragile.
But there is no room for sentimentality when so much is at stake.
