Perpetual Waiting

 I felt after the debate debacle that Biden needed a week or so to show that A) the debate was a fluke and B) it didn't cripple his campaign.

As far as A goes, the press has entered a feeding frenzy that Josh Marshall accurately compares to the Clinton-Lewinsky revelations in 1998 and the Al Franken frenzy. It's worth thinking about those, as Clinton and Democrats eventually saw a bounce back in the fall elections because of Republican overreach. We knew Clinton was a scoundrel, just as we know Biden is old. Biden's subsequent appearances have been....fine. 

The bigger question is B. Because we've entered the feeding frenzy stage, the question of his fitness to campaign is very much alive. In fact, Biden has been out campaigning quite a bit. This is not really registering with the press, however. That's troubling. If he's doing what he "needs to do" and no one notices, how is that helpful? With the media in full blown jihad mode, how can Biden even truly refocus attention on Trump's manifest unfitness for office. As Heather Cox Richardson points out: the reason we know Biden can "do the job: is because he is, at the moment, doing the job.

What's so frustrating is that we have SOOOO many pieces about whether or not Biden will step down...all while Biden is repeatedly and emphatically saying he won't. WTF?

It's incredibly hard to poll over the summer, too. So, if Biden's campaign if fatally wounded, we won't be able to accurately gauge that.

Finally, there are a few prominent voices who have raised questions within the Democratic caucus. The most important one to keep an eye on is Pelosi. She's about as smart and ruthless a political analyst as Democrats have. If there is a break with Biden that causes him to drop out, it will start with her (not Michael Bennett, though that's significant).

Finally, if Biden were to step aside, it would make sense to do it after the NATO summit. After that, the clock starts ticking down to the convention.