“…Like a bridge over troubled water
                                                                                                                                                     I will lay me down.”

                                                                                                                                                   -Simon & Garfunkel

The White House suddenly took on the look of a collapsed Potemkin Village, a carefully crafted façade designed to deceive.

It all started during the June 27^th televised Biden/Trump debate on CNN. It was an eye-opening disaster for the President and, quite possibly, for the Democrats’ chances of winning the 2024 election.

President Biden tried to explain it away as a “bad night.”  To most Americans watching, though, it was more than that. It was a sad night. When the dust from the demolition cleared, 50 million viewers were left shaken and alarmed.

Why the White House and the Biden re-election campaign agreed to a debate at all is a mystery. Demanding Trump acknowledge both the legitimacy of the Biden presidency and his criminally investigated efforts to thwart the transfer of power should have been a deal breaker.

But the debate night happened and there were two reveals: (1) In the event of a meltdown, there was no Plan B for the Biden campaign. (2) The President’s performance created calls for a Plan B.

Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill (D-11) made one of those calls. Here’s what she said:

“I know President Biden cares deeply about the future of our country, I am asking that he declare that he won’t run for re-election and will help lead us… toward a new nominee…”

Agree or not, credit the Congresswoman for recognizing the need for action and her willingness to take the lead. She gets it. The stakes are high.

Can President Biden lead a successful effort to keep the White House, maintain a Senate majority and win back majority control of the House of Representatives?

Does his mental acuity and physical stamina favor him to seek re-election to an additional four-year term? Most Americans think not.

***

In the 2020 Presidential election, Biden, almost 78 years old, survived that year’s (unwatchable) primary debates.

Ultimately, he won out due to a carefully crafted Primary strategy, (thanks to South Carolina), that transformed him into a unifying Democratic leader and the presidential nominee.

He then offered himself up as the self-proclaimed ‘bridge candidate’ for a younger generation of democrats.

With the hopes and support of the American people he won, and he won big. He is the first presidential candidate in American history to win more than 80 million votes.

Four years later, nearly 82 years old, President Biden is no longer the self-proclaimed “bridge candidate.”

He is 3 years older than Ronald Reagan when Reagan (barely) completed his two terms. He’s 20 years older than Richard Nixon when Nixon resigned in 1974 and 27 years older than Bill Clinton after Clinton’s two terms.

***

Joe Biden’s presidency will be recognized as one of the most successful and accomplished in American history.

With his legacy intact, he should also be allowed to take home his dignity. Mikie Sherrill and a growing list of others get that.

It’s long past time to get real. Explore other options, pass the torch, offer up new generational leaders, craft a new electoral strategy, work hard for success in November. Make the time. Make it work.

It’s not just old age giving way to generational change. If ageism, mental acuity, cognition, and electoral viability are the issues in question, then honesty, not blind allegiance, and loyalty, might be the answer.

Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill understands that. “…the stakes are too high,” she recently stated, …  “I realize this is hard, but we have done hard things in pursuit of democracy since the founding of this nation. It is time to do so again,” she said.

In her own dignified way, Congresswoman Sherrill is right.