Doggett jumps ship

If you had told me yesterday that the first Congressional Democrat to call on Biden to drop out would be from Central Texas, I'd have said, "Wow, kudos to Greg Casar for sticking his neck out!"

Alas, the call for a new generation atop the presidential ticket does not come from the new generation. It comes from 77-year-old Lloyd Doggett, who this afternoon released a statement praising the president's accomplishments but pleading with him to step aside for the good of the country.

Here it is:

“Having devoted his life to public service, President Biden has achieved much for our country at home and abroad. Stepping up to lead a Nation in crisis, President Biden helped rebuild our country from the devastation of a pandemic, an insurrection, and years of Trump wreckage. Yet, for more than a year, many Americans have indicated dissatisfaction with their choices in this election. President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump. I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not. Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.

“Our overriding consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover by a criminal and his gang. Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory—too great a risk to assume that what could not be turned around in a year, what was not turned around in the debate, can be turned around now. President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2020. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024. This week, with the Supreme Court creating “a law-free zone around the President,” Trump, newly-empowered with immunity, could usher America into a long, dark, authoritarian era unchecked by either the courts or a submissive Republican Congress.

“I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same. While much of his work has been transformational, he pledged to be transitional. He has the opportunity to encourage a new generation of leaders from whom a nominee can be chosen to unite our country through an open, democratic process. My decision to make these strong reservations public is not done lightly nor does it in any way diminish my respect for all that President Biden has achieved. Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so.”

The obvious rebuttal here is that Doggett, who has now served 15 terms in Congress, should heed his own advice. But that's a false equivalence.