This is an opinion column.
Perhaps never has there been a presidential debate as important as what we saw Thursday night.
From the stage in Atlanta, Americans got to see, not a battle of ideas, but a clear demonstration of what the political parties have to offer — a choice between a deranged, bellicose liar or a shielded shut-in with the vitality of a reanimated corpse.
There are 330 million people in this country, and these two are what we have to pick from?
The value of the debate was not seeing who was fit to lead. It was a freakshow and the best exhibit of what has become of our so-called democracy.
Donald Trump was who Donald Trump has been, and who Donald Trump always will be. Republicans seem content with that.
But Biden showed us what his staffers have been trying to hide for quite some time — that he isn’t who he used to be. And at moments, it wasn’t clear there was anyone at home at all.
On the debate stage, the president looked feeble and confused. If this man were your father or grandfather, you might worry about him going to the store alone without getting lost, never mind having sole authority over an arsenal of nuclear weapons.
For some time there have been reasonable people trying to ring alarms only to be shouted down by Democrats who didn’t want to face the truth. Media that insisted on doing their jobs by raising these questions have been treated by this White House as insurgents.
When Jon Stewart marked his return to The Daily Show with such a warning his first night back, fans said he wasn’t the man they once knew.
When James Carville warned that Biden didn’t have the energy of Trump, the Twitteratti said he was the one who should retire.
When Ezra Klein said Biden’s age was an issue, the president’s supporters said he was out of touch.
When The New York Times insisted the president should sit for an interview with the country’s most influential newspaper, Democrats accused the publisher of being drunk on its own self-importance.
And when the Wall Street Journal was so bold to publish the truth, Democrats accused them of telling lies.
The hyper-sensitivity to the question was the best measurement of its seriousness. Today Democrats have to face facts: They’ve been living in a reality distortion field to rival the collective hallucinations on the other side.
“But it’s about democracy!” has become the new “But her emails!”
It’s cheap paint over rot and rust.
If democracy is at stake here, that’s exactly why Democrats should have confronted this problem rather than trying to hide it.
And it’s a legitimate question from reasonable voters: If this election is so important, why haven’t you found someone better to offer?
The question almost answers itself.
Trump’s sycophants have already shown us how far they will go to stand next to power.
Biden’s camp has shown us they are little better.
The staffers in the White House, the consultants to the Biden campaign — they have more to gain from keeping the charade going than from being truthful with the American people about Biden’s ability to perform under pressure. To them, having their candidate is more important than having the right candidate.
The future of this country should not be entrusted to people who measure their self-worth by how close their desk is to the Oval Office.
Thursday night, the pundits questioned whether it’s too late for Biden to drop out, for Democrats to find a better candidate. They missed an important point: That’s what primaries were supposed to do, and that system failed.
We have a system that favors incumbency, seniority and familiarity over basic measurements of competence.
That we are here — so far removed from competent candidates like Obama and Romney — speaks for democracy’s condition. Americans’ frustration over their options this fall has been entirely justified.
Democracy might be at risk if Donald Trump returns to the White House, but this awful choice before American voters — on grotesque display in Atlanta last night — demonstrates what many already understood.
Our democracy is already broken.
