Let the Word Go Forth: An Open Letter to President Biden

Dear President Biden,

You have accomplished more for this nation domestically than any president since LBJ, and have done more internationally in becoming an “arsenal of democracy” than any president since FDR. For that, and for having vanquished the unfit, anti-democratic alternative in 2020, I am, and will be, forever grateful.

However, with the deepest regret I also firmly believe that due to your unfortunate debate performance, the fallout it has manifested even among those such as myself who have been the most consistent and ardent defenders of your candidacy, and the visibly apparent debilitating effects of the aging process, you are on an inexorable path to a humiliating defeat in November. That loss is very likely to drive such a deep stake in our constitutional democracy that it may well spell its death knell.

Even if you are able to squeak out a slim margin of victory, it remains doubtful that you will enjoy the level of confidence of the electorate necessary to govern effectively in the next four years and accomplish anything close to what you skillfully and masterfully achieved in your first term.

What’s more, the inevitable effects of aging will significantly limit your ability to energetically address the immense challenges and threats that we as a nation will face in the coming years.

Therefore, I strongly believe that you should end your candidacy, release your delegates, and propose an open convention in August. As President Kennedy thundered in his 1961 Inaugural address, “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.”

Your courage to act in the interests of your party, your country and the preservation of our democratic republic, just like those legendary statesmen of bygone days that President Kennedy eulogized in Profiles in Courage, will reward you with a legacy that will count you among the greatest and most accomplished presidents since our birth as the world’s first modern democracy.

With great sadness and hope, I am respectfully yours,

Robert Leonard Berkowitz