Staff Reports
President Joe Biden, the King of Waffles, may be dithering over a classic theater question as the leaves start to turn: to debate or not to debate. While this has been a no-brainer for major party nominees for 45 years, with a big, fat “yes” being the answer, there are some rumblings from the Democratic Party suggesting that Biden should shake things up if he faces the dreaded foe, former President Donald Trump, in 2024.
Senator Dick Durbin gave his two cents, saying he’d think twice about it and recalling the horror show of Trump’s behavior in 2016, with his outrageous and extreme antics on full display. Of course, Democrats are always afraid of Trump, but come on, who isn’t? He’s like the boogeyman for liberals. But Trump’s skipped a bunch of debates himself and actually had his polling numbers climb. So, why bother debating if it doesn’t make a difference?
So, should Biden follow suit and dodge the debate stage like a pro dodgeball player? Trump is yammering about how he’d love to face off with Biden in a whopping 10 debates, but Democrats seem about as uncertain as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Sen. Chris Coons even chimed in, pointing out that Trump didn’t exactly play by the rules last time and launched into some real doozies. Regardless, neither Biden’s nor Trump’s squads are spilling the beans on whether they’ll play nice and debate.
Some folks are itching to scrap the whole debate thing altogether, arguing that they’re not even that long-standing of a tradition in the first place. Heck, the first ones didn’t pop up until 1960! And the argument goes that debates might just do more harm than good, according to some wise guys like William Voegeli, a bigwig at the Claremont Institute.
There’s a recent tale of a Democrat, Gov. Katie Hobbs, who refused to debate her opponent, former news anchor Kari Lake, and still snagged the victory. So, maybe Biden could take a page from her playbook. But there’s a catch: dodging debates might just make Biden look like he’s one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel, as well as throwing a wrench into his whole narrative of being the normal, tradition-loving candidate in contrast to the wild and crazy Trump.
So, what’s the verdict? Maybe we’ll know when the polls start to tell the story. Right now, Biden’s lagging behind Trump in a whole bunch of swing states, and traditionally, that’s a red flag that should make him want to grab that debate stage like it’s the last piece of pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. But Voegeli’s got a crystal ball and he’s predicting that Biden might just opt out of the whole debate sitch and still come out smelling like roses.
Brace yourself, folks. There’s sure to be more drama and indecisiveness in the wacky world of presidential debates as we lumber towards 2024. And let’s be real, with these two characters involved, it’s bound to be quite the show.
