Jill Biden was a voice of reason
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Biden’s debate performance impresses Jill Biden despite criticism
Despite widespread criticism, First Lady Jill Biden praised the president for his performance in the debate against Donald Trump.
It was Dr. Jill Biden who first introduced the public to the horrific 6-day “debate camp” that took place immediately before the decisive showdown between President Joe Biden and former President Trump last week. Grueling preparation, lack of sleep and a stress-related respiratory infection led to Biden’s poor performance, which was watched by 51.3 million viewers.
Most Americans are naturally curious about how their president conducts himself in domestic and foreign meetings. Yet the sight of an octogenarian – albeit a healthy and productive one – stumbling over words, struggling to finish sentences and sometimes connecting two subjects in one sentence without a natural transition has left them shaken, shocked and disorientated. For those who represent the Democratic program of ideals, policies and values, the fear that Biden might lose to the Republican challenger has been overwhelming.
Despite a barrage of calls for Biden to drop out of the race so he doesn’t inflict a crushing defeat on Democrats not only in the presidential election but also in subsequent gubernatorial and congressional elections across the country, Jill Biden stood firm. A doctor of education — with an admirable track record of increasing literacy rates by helping students overcome reading difficulties and teaching teachers how to improve their students’ literacy skills — she recognized the reason for her husband’s hesitation in answering questions from CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
Jill Biden was right: The “debate camp” at Camp David was too much
Jill Biden pointed out that spending nearly a week in isolation at Camp David, surrounded by staffers eager to pepper the president with facts, figures and trivia, was not adequate preparation for a debate. In fact, it was quite the opposite. A good night’s sleep would have been wiser, especially given the unusually demanding international travel schedule and wars on two continents that will undoubtedly require the president to take calls in the middle of the night.
This 24/7 “debate camp” – consisting of endless sessions of fact-cramming, memorization and tactical advice on how to deal with the opposing side’s barbs – needs to be rethought, but it is not simply about shifting blame. On the contrary, it is an unflinching look at the reality of the internal wars we inflict on ourselves as we try to navigate this world and fulfill our ambition to bring about positive change.
Jill Biden is a runner, an athlete who knows the importance of achieving your goals. And as a creative thinker in education, she created a program to educate high school students about breast health and the importance of early detection and treatment of breast cancer. She also stood by her husband when he introduced the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA) in the Senate, allowing countless battered women to flee to safe havens to escape further domestic violence. And more recently, she stood by him when, as President, he signed key provisions renewing VAWA, which instructs courts to carefully review evidence of domestic violence and child abuse before making custody decisions.
Opinion: Calls for Biden’s replacement vs. silence on Trump? America has lost its political mind.
Ratings and metrics are not always useful
We fear that we have evolved into an age of clicks, likes and tags – so much so that we can no longer evaluate performance, integrity and commitment. And that means that instead of judging a person by their track record, background, experience, etc., we impulsively assign ratings – whether it’s for the takeout place that delivers our food, the dentist who just performed a root canal, or the president who attended a heated debate without a good night’s sleep.
We are reminded that relying on evaluations can be misleading in other contexts as well, and that doing so can have similarly damaging consequences. For example, as researchers studying the family court, we have seen how quickly judges are to “evaluate” mothers who come before them asking to retain custody of their children. We have seen women falter terribly under cross-examination: they stutter, appear confused, and often cry. Yet their reputation for having cared admirably for their children is often undermined by their performance in court. In fact, many judges base an award of custody on the mother’s performance in court rather than on her performance as a parent. Not surprisingly, we have seen tragic errors in such custody decisions, sometimes resulting in the death of the child at the hands of the abusive parent.
Ultimately, we must recognize that “ratings” can be spurious and lead to poor decisions. Jill Biden has pointed to the conditions of “debate camp” that must be addressed so that we do not drift into a world of spurious ratings that undermine a president’s strong and impressive track record. And the consequences of doing so can be severe.
Amy Neustein, Ph.D. is a sociologist and is working on a 2and Michelle Etlin is the co-author of From Madness to Mutiny: Why Mothers are Running from the Family Courts – and What Can be Done about It, forthcoming from Oxford University Press. She lives in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Michelle Etlin is the co-author of The Hostage Child, published by Indiana University Press. She lives in Pikesville, Maryland.
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