The Campaign of a Thousand Leaks

How do you convince a stubborn old man that he needs to step aside? The answer is not simply to tell him -- because he is not listening to what he doesn't want to hear -- but to force him to read about it. Leaking.

The leaks are escalating. Biden supporters -- a dwindling group -- managed to sell the story, for a very few days, that the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump had caused the campaign to replace Biden at the top of the ticket to fizzle. They even tried to move up the virtual roll call to secure the nomination for Biden. It didn't work. For about two days, there were no high-profile defections. But lawmakers revolted at the idea of moving up the roll call -- the run out the clock option of trying to enforce support for Biden -- and the calls for Biden to step aside resumed. Adam Schiff came out publicly, as did Jamie Raskin. More importantly, the leaks started coming, fast and furious, and no one is denying them. From those close to Nancy Pelosi; from allies of Barack Obama; from people with knowledge of conversations Biden has had with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. All the stories are essentially the same. The most respected leaders in the Democratic Party telling Biden, and those they are close to, that Joe Biden's path to reelection is narrowing, closing, and that the Democrats are facing a landslide that could mean Republican control of both the Senate and the House if he does not step aside.

All the while, his campaign continues, even in the face of news reports to the contrary, to insist that he is staying in the race and is determined to be the nominee.

The leaks are a polite way for Democratic leaders to penetrate the bubble that Biden is clearly in, a bubble where he cites to nonexistent polls and doesn't talk to his own pollsters, tells himself an exaggerated story about how he has come back in the past, and is increasingly isolated from those who are trying to save him from himself. So, you up the pressure by forcing him to read what he doesn't want to hear: that he is the captain of a sinking ship, that he will be remembered as an old man who didn't know when it was time to go and took the country down with him. His accomplishments will be forgotten. His legacy will be his failures. That is what is being said privately and being leaked publicly.

Will it work? If it doesn't, it will just get worse. Every day will bring more leaks, of internal polls showing Biden losing swing states and dragging the ticket down, of a consensus at the highest levels of the Democratic Party that Biden must go, more reports of what Obama is saying and Pelosi is thinking, more reports of donors drying up and fundraising appeals failing. Then the next step: more public defections, a growing chorus, more claims that Biden is considering stepping down even if he isn't. The campaign, and the stories of his isolation and defensiveness, will make him look worse and worse, more and more like a man who shouldn't be trusted to do the job for four more years. If his own party doesn't want him at the top of the ticket, why should undecided voters vote for him? If he is burying his head in the sand, why should voters trust him?

This is not something he can turn around. It isn't about policy. It wasn't just a bad night. He walks slowly. He forgets names and loses his train of thought, and all of it is reported in excruciating detail. He has been "out there" for three weeks and what's happened is that more and more voters, party leaders and donors have become convinced that he is at least a loser, if not also a man who is not competent to serve four more years.

It's painful to watch. There is no dignity in this tailspin. It can only end badly. The sooner it ends, the better. Uncle Joe deserves better. But if he won't listen, he will keep reading very bad stories of why he must go. The campaign of leaks only makes things worse. But it may be the only way to get through to him. Very sad.

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To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.