In what could be described as a summer retreat with significantly less badminton and significantly more electoral anxiety, President Joe Biden has decamped to Camp David to prepare for a televised debate that many Democrats are hoping will resemble a political rebirth rather than a retirement party.
Camp David, the presidential hideaway in the Maryland hills that is usually reserved for respite, now serves as the White House’s version of a boot camp, where Biden is expected to trade his aviators for reading glasses and engage in mock debates presumably moderated by people with more patience than cable news anchors.
The upcoming presidential debate, scheduled for Thursday in Atlanta and hosted by CNN, is a kind of high-stakes performance review for Biden, who doesn’t just need to clear a low bar but might have to pole vault over it just to calm his party’s nerves. Democrats, still scrubbing off the electoral flop sweat from recent polling, are hoping for a sharp and decisive showing to silence questions about the President’s age, stamina and potential to stay vertical through another four-year term.
According to those familiar with top-level debate logistics, the President is surrounded by a crack team of aides and strategists who will attempt to distill complex policy points into soundbites that fit neatly into televised time slots and presidential memory. These mock sessions, designed to mimic the real thing without the electoral consequences, are meant to simulate the inevitable verbal jousts with Donald Trump, who presumably will not be bringing a fact-checker to the proceedings.
Biden’s team has been keeping details close to the vest, perhaps fearing that if the President sneezes too hard in rehearsal it will be tweeted as breaking news. Meanwhile, over at Mar-a-Lago, Trump prepares in his own distinctly Trumpian style, which reportedly includes far fewer briefing books and far more extemporaneous confidence, not unlike preparing for the SATs by watching reruns of “The Apprentice.”
The rules for this particular showdown include mute buttons and no live audience, which some suggest may work in Biden’s favor. Others note that any opportunity to keep Trump from interrupting six times a minute is probably a bipartisan achievement.
While Biden’s campaign insists he has maintained a consistent mental acuity, their efforts to present him as sharp and agile suggest a deep unease with the lingering aroma of voter skepticism. Or perhaps that’s just the scent of 2020 still wafting through the room.
“This is going to be the most important debate since Kennedy-Nixon,” said one campaign strategist while possibly imagining a very different historical outcome.
As Biden pores over talking points and practices zingers in the preventive serenity of federal woodland real estate, Americans brace for a debate that could either reassure them about the future or inspire a spike in applications to Canadian immigration services.
Sleepy Joe may be getting rest now, but come Thursday night, he’ll need to wake up in prime time.