Joe Biden Is Facing the Biggest Decision of His Political Career

Because it’s early, the sputtering performance may not have cost Biden millions of votes in a close election defined by partisanship. But it is hard to picture an up-for-grabs voter in Wisconsin or Nevada watching the debate and saying, “I misjudged Biden. He is at the top of his game.”

Even when Biden gained energy later in the debate, fueled by his rage at Trump, the president could not close the deal. In a key moment late in the debate when Biden was asked directly about his age, the president and Trump began wrangling over golf handicaps. Golf handicaps? It was almost as bad as the 2016 primary debate when Marco Rubio mocked the size of Trump’s hands.

Even in his closing statement, when Biden had an opportunity to partly rectify the damage, the president (undoubtedly following bum advice) squandered his time talking about tax rates and lowering drug prices against the opposition of Big Pharma. There was no talk about democracy or abortion or that Donald J. Trump is an uncontrollable danger to America. Even inflation was wedged in a sentence or two at the very end.