Opinion | As Biden digs in, Democrats imagine other options

With President Biden seemingly dead set on running again, Democrats are in a difficult position. Can anyone make him reconsider? And will anyone step up? A tough collective action problem stands in the way of the huge potential upside of a fresh young face in the presidential race. Three of our columnists — Charles Lane, Karen Tumulty and Perry Bacon Jr. — discuss the party’s unenviable options. This excerpt from their conversation has been edited.

Use the audio player or The Post’s “Impromptu” podcast feed to listen to the entire conversation.

Perry Bacon Jr.: People like new faces in politics. And there are a lot of people I talked to in the country who are like, “Why do I have to vote for these two guys who are so old — again?” I think a young, articulate person would inject some new energy. They might have a scandal that I don’t know about, but I think if you’re talking about Gretchen Whitmer or Pete Buttigieg, or people we haven’t heard of, I do think there is a potentially high upside.

Karen Tumulty: Let’s describe what changing now would involve. First and foremost, it would involve President Biden voluntarily stepping aside. And then the decision would be made by the roughly 4,000 people who are Democratic convention delegates, who then would be released. So we would have a very short, intense primary campaign where the electorate is essentially a bunch of party activists, union members — a lot of teachers union and local party officials, a lot of local elected officials. We don’t have the storied smoke-filled rooms of earlier eras.

Charles Lane: It would be less transparent and democratic than the primary process, which, since it was unopposed for Biden, is already not super democratic to begin with.

Karen Tumulty: And some states, such as Florida, decided just not to have a primary.

Charles Lane: I continue to believe, somewhat in agreement with Perry, that the voters are screaming: “I don’t want this choice! I don’t want to have to pick between these two people!” And, therefore, if there is any way in the world to engineer a brand-new face, I think the upside of that is very, very high — notwithstanding how messy it might be to get there.

And don’t forget the other guy. If it’s going to be Donald Trump, and it looks like it will be, he’s got a felony conviction on his literal rap sheet. If the Democrats pick somebody who got a DUI 20 years ago, that’s not going to be a dealbreaker. I think novelty has a tremendous value to it. And yet we are facing an extremely defiant, committed, embedded and increasingly “ain’t going nowhere” Joe Biden.

Listen to the full conversation here:

Reference

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