Free Form Friday: My Political Advice to the President of the United States

I was 25 years old in 1994, working for my hero, New York Governor Mario Cuomo. He was running for re-election in what turned out to be a Republican year. It’s the year Republicans took the U.S. House and Senate, and Democrats like Texas Governor Ann Richards and my boss faced tough, ultimately successful challengers. Across the state line in Massachusetts, Senator Ted Kennedy seemed to be on the ropes, facing off against a younger, previously unknown Republican challenger named Mitt Romney. Kennedy and my boss had many things in common, but they departed on a key political strategy: whether or not to debate their opponent. Kennedy did, wiped the floor with Romney and went on to come back from a deficit in the polls only to win, against the red wave. Mario Cuomo, who seemed to be up in the polls the week before Election Day, did not agree to debate George Pataki one-on-one and ended up losing.

I have always regretting not saying anything at the time, but I remembered feeling like my guy was smarter and more persuasive than Pataki, and he was right on the issues. The idea of not wanting to elevate one’s opponent is pretty standard, and the idea of playing to expectations had a lot to do with why some thought Cuomo had nothing to win by facing off against Pataki, while Kennedy had to show his voters that despite Romney’s portrayal of him as being over the hill and having lost a step, that he was still engaged and on the ball. Boy, did Kennedy’s calculation work.

Joe Biden is not in the exact same situation today, but the story of the week is about the (dirty, rotten, unfair and uncalled for) report that while clearing him of wronging in his document retention case, also claimed that his memory was shot. This has played into the ongoing narrative that Biden is too old to be President. The good news is that there’s an exceedingly simple way to burry this idea once and for all. And, stipulating that the President actually doesn’t have a memory problem, all he has to do is think back to 1994.

The parallel between Kennedy in ’94 and Biden today is far from perfect. Romney was not so much contending that Kennedy, who was only 62, was senile, but more generally out of touch, morally compromised, past his prime and, essentially, a mess. The point is, expectations were low about Kennedy’s ability to comport himself, which had in part been fueled by his conspicuously low-key performance during Clarence Thomas’s confirmation hearings in 1991, his appearance as a witness in the trial of his nephew, William Kennedy Smith, as well, to a lesser extent as a result of a scathing biography by Joe McGinniss and other unflattering media portrayals. He was satirically depicted as an out-of-shape, shambling alcoholic in search of a good time. This is not how Biden is depicted today by anybody. But the commonality is in the general low expectations about each man’s aptitude.

What did Kennedy do to disabuse voters of the idea that he had lost it? He showed everyone that he still had it. He did this in part by campaigning hard and in person, and in part by debating Romney. He convinced voters that he had it together by showing them that he had it together. Biden can do the same thing today. The President actually gives more speeches and makes more public appearances than even mainstream media (let alone Trump propaganda outlets like Fox) would have us assume, but it’s not enough. Also, much as was the case with Kennedy and Romney, Biden has the enormous potential of putting Trump — who doesn’t want to debate– on the defensive if he starts pressing for debates now. And then sealing the deal by outperforming Trump.

I don’t know that Mario Cuomo would have won the election had he debated George Pataki in 1994, but I took from the experience that candidates who believe in what they are doing and know their stuff should debate their opponents. Voters usually can tell who is for real when given the chance to evaluate their candidates side-by-side. When I went to work for Sam Hoyt, who had been a state legislator (and is now one of my best friends), I advised him to always debate his opponents. He did, and never suffered for it. I know, different scale. But the dynamic is the same.

So why isn’t Biden holding daily press conferences, calling for debates and doing more to demonstrate his mental acuity? Well, what I’m guessing is out of fear that his tendency to misspeak will get him in trouble. But the concern about Biden is not that he misspeaks. He’s been misspeaking for his entire career. He got elected President despite making frequent verbale gaffes. The concern that’s out there, and the media narrative describing the concern is about what’s going on inside Biden’s head, not what’s coming out of his mouth. Accessible public figures are usually granted more latitude from reporters who frequently get to question and observe them– Trump is one such politician. I’m not suggesting that Trump isn’t criticized for what he says, but he is usually criticized for the substance of what he says rather than verbal misfires or syntactical errors, which are endemic features of the way he talks.

It’s a whole other conversation if Biden is being kept under wraps because he can’t hold his own in a media scrum, on the debate stage or at a rally. I don’t think that’s the case. If the price of demonstrating the soundness of his mind is occasionally taking a hit for making one of his trademark verbal fumbles, that’s actually a much smaller price than he’s paying now by seeming to be sheltered.