Maybe it was when the president was not talking, but the camera showed him staring vacantly into space. Or was it when he was talking, and out came a reedy whisper of a voice, one that could not command the viewer's attention, even when the words themselves made sense?
For anyone who cares about the future of the United States and therefore the future of the world, it was agonising to watch. You found yourself glancing ever more frequently at the clock, desperate for it to end, if only on humanitarian grounds: it seemed cruel to put a man of visible frailty through such an ordeal.
In that sense, the first - and, given what happened, probably last - TV debate between the current and former president confirmed the worst fears many Biden supporters have long harboured over his capacity to take on and defeat Donald Trump. For more than 90 excruciating minutes, every gag about Biden's age became real. There was no spinning it, despite White House efforts to blame a cold. Joe Biden delivered the worst presidential debate performance ever.
Expectations were rock bottom: all he had to do was turn up and show some vigour, reassure people that his marbles were all present and correct, and it would have been enough. The bar could scarcely have been lower. But Joe Biden could not clear it.
Esta historia es de la edición July 05, 2024 de The Guardian Weekly.
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