--- title: Obama and Clinton Must Ask Joe Biden to Step Aside description: ‘The drums and bugles of the Democratic Party are beginning to sound with Whitmanesque force,’ write Marvin Kalb and Garrett Mitchell. canonical: https://time.com/7000175/barack-obama-bill-clinton-joe-biden-step-aside-essay/ author: Marvin Kalb article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-07-18T18:45:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:44:42.610Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Barack Obama and Bill Clinton Must Ask Joe Biden to Step Aside og:description: The drums and bugles of the Democratic Party are beginning to sound with Whitmanesque force. og:url: https://time.com/7000175/barack-obama-bill-clinton-joe-biden-step-aside-essay/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14589ec6e689a123/698a58f047ca38fb203bdc4c/Biden-Obama-June-2024.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-POLITICS-BIDEN og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barack Obama and Bill Clinton Must Ask Joe Biden to Step Aside twitter:description: The drums and bugles of the Democratic Party are beginning to sound with Whitmanesque force. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14589ec6e689a123/698a58f047ca38fb203bdc4c/Biden-Obama-June-2024.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # Barack Obama and Bill Clinton Must Ask Joe Biden to Step Aside > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=3537e1e5-ffb7-445e-995b-5f86cc84568f&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Biden: 'I Feel Good' About State of Presidential Race [Watch (HLS stream): Biden: 'I Feel Good' About State of Presidential Race](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eX1ZR0hF.m3u8) (1:07)  _Published 2024-07-18. President Joe Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing “mild symptoms,” the White House confirmed Wednesday._ Jul 18, 2024 6:45 PM UTC  U.S. President Joe Biden laughs with former U.S. President Barack Obama onstage during a campaign fundraiser at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on June 15, 2024. U.S. President Joe Biden laughs with former U.S. President Barack Obama onstage during a campaign fundraiser at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on June 15, 2024. Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images by [Marvin Kalb](https://time.com/author/marvin-kalb/) and [Garrett Mitchell](https://time.com/author/garrett-mitchell/) Jul 18, 2024 6:45 PM UTC For a few tense moments in the late afternoon of Saturday, June 13th, the country gasped as the specter of [assassinations-past](https://time.com/6999231/trump-shooting-parallels-history/) rifled its way into a Trump rally in Butler, Pa. Two dead, including the sniper, and two critically injured, while former President Donald Trump was grazed by a bullet on his right ear. Shock at the shooting, relief that the sniper’s target survived intact. So, what has changed? Overnight, Trump has become an icon, a more formidable, vital candidate. The Trump brand has been reinvigorated, thanks to an inexplicable lapse by the Secret Service, and the faulty marksmanship of [Thomas Matthew Crooks](https://time.com/6998557/thomas-matthew-crooks-trump-rally-shooter-fbi-motive/). In Milwaukee, Trump has hit the MAGA-Republican Party’s sweet spot with his selection of Ohio Senator J. D. Vance as his running mate—a youthful, articulate, intellectually agile pugilist. **_Read More:_** [_Why Republicans Are Patching Their Ears_ ](https://time.com/7000028/ear-bandage-fashion-trend-republicans-convention-rnc-trump-shooting/) As a result, President Joe Biden’s acknowledged vulnerability in the electoral college duel has become more pronounced. The Democratic Party’s prospects for electoral victory on November 5th are evaporating. And in what may be seen as a sign from [The Almighty](https://time.com/6997520/joe-biden-democrats-election-nato-speech/), President Biden has [COVID-19](https://time.com/6999946/biden-covid-digs-musk-trump/). The call for swift action to reverse circumstances has arrived. So, what must be done? And how? President Biden must accept that his candidacy at the top of the ticket is standing in the way of defeating Trump and preventing the enactment of [Project 2025](https://time.com/6986995/what-is-project-2025/). Nothing surpasses the urgency of persuading him to relinquish his quest for re-election. This won’t be done easily, given Biden’s long-standing resolve:_“I’m the only one who can beat him_.” However, given growing public awareness that Congressional leaders and major donors have now delivered [uniformly stark messages](https://time.com/6993760/joe-biden-debate-disaster-democratic-panic/) to Biden—Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jefferies, Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, and others—the drums and bugles of the Democratic Party are beginning to sound with Whitmanesque force. One giant step remains to be taken. The moment has arrived for former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the two people who have the standing and status to break the paralysis gripping the Democratic Party, to make their move—before Trump, the battle-scarred icon, and his running mate, Vance, emerge from Milwaukee to vivify the political landscape. If they share the burgeoning belief that Trump’s re-election is tantamount to a toppling of the republic envisioned by the founders, they must move fast, disregard protocol and politesse, and take urgent action to give voters a choice that offers vigorous, effective global leadership for the balance of the decade and beyond. ## Transcript I feel good. I feel as good as it would be for L. One of the things is most communities don't really begin to focus on the election until they get into September. And so all the talk about who's leaning to where and how it's kind of, you know, everything so far between Trump and me has been basically even. And so but I feel good because look, the things that the way Trump has characterized the community is quite frankly sick. I had a terrible night on the debate night. I was, I haven't exhausted. I'd been traveling around the world. I wasn't ready. And I performed terribly. And so people are now saying, Well, that was only one thing. But he's 81-years-old. What happened? He's 84-years-old? What happened, excuse me, when he's 85-years-old. I was smart enough to know W as comes wisdom. I know the difference between the truth and lies. I don't know the difference between good and bad. 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