Drew Landry: Take a deep breath after the U.S. Presidential debate

Last month, the first presidential debate took place between former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden. Honestly, it was not good for either candidate, let alone for the United States. The former president rambled about the first random thought that popped into his head while the current president mumbled with a raspy voice. The key difference between them was substance and energy. The former president had the energy but facts were hardly on his side as he was fact-checked for his numerous lies and misrepresentation of facts. While the current president did not misrepresent facts nearly as often as his Republican rival, his energy was, without question, absent.

Because of that, it shook his base – or core set of supporters – to the point key members questioned his ability to withstand a strong campaign cycle. U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, R-Texas, recently called upon the president to step aside while U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, was about to do the same thing as Congressman Doggett on Sunday political talk shows but was dissuaded to do so by Democratic Senators. Couple those actions with The New York Times’ Editorial Board’s open call for the president to exit the race along with consistent analysis making President Biden’s debate – and overall job – performance appear like a vehicle floundering on a flooded road that caused Democratic donors to hit the pause button on giving the president’s reelection effort. From such actions it gives readers the vision of rats leaving the president’s sinking ship and the former president set to be the first to serve two nonconsecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in 1892.

This is sort of Chicken Little freak out is akin to fans of the Dallas Cowboys who rejoiced incessantly upon winning the last two games of the 2023 regular season and getting the slightly above average Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card. Then the Wild Card game was played, and well, we all know what happened then.

Despite this complete and utter freakout from the Democratic side over the president’s poor debate performance, Biden is not the only incumbent president to have a bad debate. Have completely forgotten President Barack Obama’s first debate with former Massachusetts Governor and current U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah? When both candidates met in the Mile High City in 2012, President Obama looked annoyed he was there and did not take the setting seriously as he was unprepared. Because of that, quoting a columnist for CNN, former Governor Romney surged in polls after the debate for the first time. It was Romney who won the night and the next week.

Did we erase former President George W. Bush and U.S. Senator John Kerry’s first debate in 2004 from our memories? In late September of 2004, the two presidential candidates debated in Florida and in one analysis, it was dubbed President Bush’s “weakest performances” as he appeared disinterested and fumbled through many points. To further this point, I vividly remember watching the debate and my father asking me “where did (President) Bush’s lips go?” My father referred to a moment in the debate when a prolonged facial expression made it look like the president lost his lips.

I am old enough to remember the first debate between President Ronald Reagan and former Vice-President Walter Mondale in 1984. President Reagan – then the oldest president to be elected and serve – looked bad in that debate. He appeared tired and stammered through a lot of answers. In the debate’s closing statement, the president made a whopper of a blunder where he claimed in part that if he completed his job of making America better off than it was four years ago, he would not have sought reelection. Talk about a head scratcher.

Let us remember that after President Reagan’s poor performance, Republican National Committee Chair Paul Laxalt held a press conference admitting the president performed poorly but due to being “brutalized by a briefing process” that overloaded him with statistics.

With the given examples, observers may be quick to point out that none of those incumbents were above 80 years of age. While that is true, readers are encouraged to look through history and watch those aforementioned debates. Once they do, they will realize Biden’s performance is on par with the others.

Let us also remember, the incumbents recovered in later debates. After all, it was in the second Reagan/Mondale debate when the president delivered the comedic line about not politicizing his opponent’s youth and inexperience and solidified his reelection. The final point to be made is how little debates matter in presidential elections. The reasoning revolves around voters already having their minds made up about how they will vote. Since this debate happened roughly four months before the election, has that changed the research? Perhaps but two things to bear in mind when answering that question. One is voters know former President Trump and current President Biden so there is nothing really new to present to them because they know the current president is old and the former president is boisterous. Both of those characteristics were well on display in the first debate.

Two is voters will forget about this debate once early voting begins. In Texas, early voting starts toward the end of October. That is about three and half months away. Three and half months in politics is an eternity. Add that with our short term memory hard drives and come early voting and Election Day, those who yet made up their minds will probably have forgotten about President Biden’s poor performance in late June.

While drive-by media and talking heads on your favorite cable news show think it would be best for the president to step aside and for Democrats to find another candidate at their convention in Chicago this summer, those people forgot how bad incumbent presidents perform in the first debate. They also forgot how little voters will remember them.

Despite all of the aforementioned, the onus of reelection is on President Biden. He has to convince voters despite his age, he can still do the job. While that debate performance did him no favors, he is in the same boat as every incumbent prior to him.

Take a deep breath, Democrats. If you keep this up frantic act, you will lose the election.

Drew Landry is an assistant professor of government at South Plains College

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Drew Landry: Take a deep breath after that U.S. Presidential debate