The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote in a special column following the recent Presidential debate that it had been painful to watch.
"Joe Biden is a good man and a good President. He must bow out of the race," Friedman wrote in the headline of his column.
He recounted: "I watched the Biden-Trump debate alone in a Lisbon hotel room, and it made me weep. I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime — precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election."
"The Biden family and political team must gather quickly and have the hardest of conversations with the President, a conversation of love and clarity and resolve. To give America the greatest shot possible of deterring the Trump threat in November, the President has to come forward and declare that he will not be running for re-election and is releasing all of his delegates for the Democratic National Convention," the commentator added.
According to him, "The Republican Party — if its leaders had an ounce of integrity — would demand the same, but it won’t, because they don’t. "
He noted that Kamala Harris could be a candidate to replace Biden, but that the voters also deserved a more open process to choose a candidate to try and unite both the party and their country.
Friedman emphasized that President Biden had led an exceptional first term, and that the two had been friends since they traveled to Afghanistan together in the wake of 9/11. Biden's accomplishments in confronting developing climate and technology phenomena, he declared, should earn him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Friedman concluded by saying that although he had until now found President Biden up to his task, he believed it was time for the President to step aside. Such a move would, he claimed, allow President Biden and his staff to retain their dignity and be remembered as a candidate who had put the country before his own interests.
"America needs better. The world needs better," Friedman declared.