Favreau says Democrats ‘just don’t know’ if nominating Biden better than lesser-known candidate

Former Obama administration speechwriter Jon Favreau said Saturday that Democrats will never know whether keeping President Biden as their front-runner is the wisest decision, but if Biden decides to resign. It warned that there could be “significant risks to democracy.” .

In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Favreau responded: Article by New York Times columnist Podcaster Ezra Klein argued that Democrats should persuade the president not to run again and elect a new candidate at their convention in August. Klein noted that this practice used to be much more common in presidential elections.

Klein suggested several rising Democratic stars that delegates could choose from at the convention: Gretchen Whitmer, Wes Moore, Jared Polis, Gavin Newsom, Raphael Warnock, Josh Shapiro and Cory. Booker, Ro Khanna, Pete Buttigieg, Gina Raimondo, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chris Murphy, Andy Beshear, JB Pritzker, Klein said, adding, “The list goes on.”

Favreau urged Democrats to read the text, but expressed skepticism about the main arguments.

“The problem is that it is riskier to nominate Biden than to let Democratic Party activists and insiders choose a lesser-known and potentially weaker general election candidate with three months left in the convention.” “We don’t know, and probably never will know, whether it is high or not,” Favreau wrote about X.

Favreau noted that Democrats “have some real stars who have won races in the toughest states,” but added, “If they a) get elected delegates or b) end up being stronger than Biden.” It’s not at all clear what will happen,” he added. Against Trump.” Refers to some limited polling This shows that Biden has outperformed other Democratic candidates in a head-to-head matchup with former President Trump.

“So even if you think Biden’s decision to stay in the race was a result of ego or shortsightedness, a last-minute (and highly unlikely) decision to pull out poses a huge risk to democracy. In his mind, that must be taken into account. Is it as dangerous as the campaigns we’re most likely to face? Again, it’s very difficult to know for sure. ”

But in the end, Favreau spoke to Klain about the importance of Biden acknowledging voters’ concerns, rather than simply pointing out similar mistakes by President Trump or dismissing concerns as a media construct. Agreed.

“What Biden can do is take concerns about his age seriously, acknowledge that concerns about his performance are not a media creation or a Democratic Party’s bedwetting, and focus single-mindedly on looking fresh, strong, and energetic. That’s something we’ve seen him absolutely capable of doing (2023 SOTU, January 6 speech, etc.),” Favreau said.