Joe Biden is a good president who is without question a better person and a better candidate than Donald Trump, a megalomaniacal fascist. But he has not been a vigorous opponent of Republican efforts to undermine constitutional democracy.
Can Biden’s campaign make the changes necessary to strengthen his candidacy? Are
any changes capable of doing this? Perhaps. This remains to be seen. What is clear is that deference to the unwavering confidence of his family and recourse to overblown rhetoric about his unique ability to defend democracy are no substitutes for a serious reckoning with hard questions by all those who claim to be leaders of the Democratic Party. And while personal loyalty to a decent man is a virtue, what is required now above all is fidelity to democracy itself.