Biden might have won, but time is undefeated

President Biden backed out of the 2024 race Sunday, making way for another Democratic candidate to face off against Donald Trump. WFAE’s Tommy Tomlinson, in his "On My Mind" commentary, says Biden came to a moment of clarity for himself — and the country.

The old football coach Woody Hayes used to say that three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad.

Three things could have happened if President Biden had stayed in the race against Donald Trump.

He could have beaten Trump again and served out a normal second term. Good.

He could have lost to Trump. Bad. Disastrous. Historically dangerous, even.

Or … Biden could have won, but no longer have been physically or mentally able to serve four more years. That would have been its own sort of disaster.

So on Sunday, Biden made the brave and prudent call. He handed off.

Let me be clear: I would have voted for Biden at 1% battery life over Donald Trump, whose own battery is nowhere near fully charged. And I will vote for Kamala Harris, or anybody else who ends up being the Democratic nominee, because there is only one issue in this election, and that is to never, ever let Trump near the White House again.

But we should stop for a moment, before the race moves on without him, to understand what Biden did on Sunday. It’s not only that he sacrificed his own ambitions for the country’s. It’s not only that he gave his party, in my mind, a better chance to win in November and potentially save our democracy.

It’s that he had to admit he has gotten old.

The Biden of 2024 is nowhere near as quick or lucid as the Biden of 2020, or 2016. He has served in elected office for most of his adult life. He was first elected to Congress 52 years ago — and I suspect he could give a speech or work a rope line on autopilot. But that is very different from performing the full-time duties of the most difficult job in the world. And he was not likely to improve with four more years in the job.

Those of you who have been around people in their 80s — maybe some of you are in your 80s — know the cruelty of aging. One day your 80-something parent or friend is as sharp as a Honeycrisp apple. The next day they can’t tie their shoes. It’s not a character flaw. It’s not a pattern anyone can regulate or medicate. It’s just that bastard, time.

In some ways, now, I’m glad the country saw the Biden we saw at the debate last month. Because after that most of us could fool ourselves no longer. Any of us who follow sports know how it feels when the fans and boosters have given up on a coach. After that, the only question is when and how the coach leaves. The fans and boosters might still love him, or her, personally. But the point of the job is to win.

And so this moment feels like a huge risk for the Democrats, because however diminished Biden has become, he held one ace in his pocket: He beat Trump straight up in 2020. Kamala Harris, or someone, now has to prove they can do the same.

But in at least one way, the race has flipped. Now Trump, on top of the boxcar of baggage he already brings to the race, will be by far the oldest of the two candidates, and the most incoherent.

All those undecided and unenthused voters who begged the parties to come up with somebody fresh — well, now there’s going to be somebody fresh. It’s always been a choice not just about party or policy, but whether you want this country to go backward or forward. But now that’ll be easier to see.

Joe Biden might have won anyway. Many other candidates have won after being worse off in the polls than he was. But he gave up his chance to serve a second term in the job that so many dream about, not because it is so hard, but because it is so important.

There’s no way of knowing right now if he made the right call. He doesn’t know, either. I’m sure, among many other emotions, he must be gutted.

But he gave up his present for a chance at a better future. He handed over the keys instead of having them taken away.