Another top Democrat has called on President Joe Biden to exit the presidential race, marking the fourth instance this week that news has broken of a top lawmaker suggesting it’s the 81-year-old president’s time to bow out.
In a four-page letter sent earlier this month, Representative Jamie Raskin largely waxed poetic about Biden’s myriad accomplishments in office. But the Maryland Democrat then turned to an all-American metaphor to translate his waning competence: a tired baseball pitcher, too many innings into the game.
“There is no shame in taking a well-deserved bow to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd when your arm is tired out, and there is real danger for the team in ignoring the statistics,” Raskin wrote, likening Biden’s insistence on staying in the race to the 2003 American League Championship Series, in which Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez refused to get off the mound despite his manager’s insistence eight innings in. That decision to stay and keep throwing, despite the statistical disadvantage, cost the Red Sox the game and a spot in the World Series.
“Your situation is tricky because you are both our star pitcher and our Manager,” Raskin wrote in the letter, which was obtained Thursday by The New York Times.
“But in democracy, as you have shown us more than any prior president, you are not a Manager acting all alone; you are the co-Manager along with our great team and our great people,” he continued. “Caucus with the team, Mr. President. Hear them out. You will make the right decision.”
Behind closed doors, several other major Democrats also urged the president to hit the bench this week, including a double-whammy of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of whom reportedly made direct appeals to Biden to drop out for the good of the party. Elsewhere in the liberal ecosphere, news broke that former President Barack Obama had spoken with allies about Biden’s narrowing chances at winning the White House for a second term, and believed now was the time to act to protect Biden and his legacy.
