Here is the final question (from the New York Times transcript) in George Stephanopolous’ interview of President Biden that aired on ABC last night:

“And if you stay in, and Trump is elected and everything you’re warning about comes to pass, how will you feel in January?”

And here’s is the first sentence of Biden’s answer:

“I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the goodest job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about.”

Sorry, Mr. President. That’s not the right answer.

Biden should have stolen the words attributed to NASA flight director Gene Kranz in the movie “Apollo 13”: “Failure is not an option.”

That would have assured shaky Democrats, including me, that the president understands the stakes of the 2024 election – and why we are concerned about his debate performance last week.

Let’s be clear about what all Democrats and many patriotic Republicans believe: Donald Trump is the end of American democracy if he wins the election in 122 days. It’s not a question of whether he should be defeated – this isn’t Mitt Romney in 2012. It’s a question of he MUST be defeated. 

And what the president and his loyalists need to understand is that little else matters.

But one of those things is what’s driving this conversation. The fact that those who aren’t as steadfast in their commitment to defeating Trump – young people who don’t completely grasp the stakes and older voters more concerned about issues like the economy – have a tough time believing the best alternative is someone who reminds them of their aging parent or grandparent.

Biden does that every time he listens to a question with that slackjaw expression. 

I understand why this is hard for the president.

He is a man who believes in merit. It’s how he was raised. It’s why people think of him as decent and honest.

Biden believes his record warrants reelection. In my mind – and that of virtually all Democrats –  he’s right. 

He has turned the economy around – employment has hovered at 4% or below for a long time, and the jump to 4.1% reported yesterday is partly due to the fact that more people feel confident to look for a job. An advanced recovery is still creating 200,000 jobs a month – that’s a phenomenal number this far along.

If you try to drive anywhere this summer, you’re probably frustrated by some highway construction project. But that tells you two things: one, people are confident enough about their finances that they feel comfortable taking trips and, two, Biden delivered on the promise to rebuild our infrastructure.

Biden has also reestablished American leadership in the world. He’s been a key factor in Ukraine holding off Russia and in forging new alliances with Japan, South Korea and other Pacific nations. Europe and east Asia are shaking about the possibility that Trump will come back and continue cozying up to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Il. 

It’s just that merit won’t work in 2024.

The Republican Party is all-in on a would-be dictator. A compulsive liar and a self-centered brat. And unlike Great Britain, whose voters don’t have propaganda networks like Fox and Newsmax to tell them not to believe their lying eyes, Americans on the right have no sense of the truth about Trump. 

It must feel like betrayal to Biden and those still loyal to him. 

They canceled subscriptions to The New York Times when it called for Biden to drop out, wondering why a doddering Trump isn’t held to the same standard. They’ve lashed out at the Democratic elected officials who have suggested Biden reconsider. They wonder – as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did is his always excellent blog – why you pander to the least committed voters, who jump ship at the sign of danger.

The thing is that people worry that the ship they’re on is the Titanic – and they want to stop it from hitting the iceberg. That iceberg is the end of the American experiment in democracy. 

And if you think that’s overly dramatic, consider the presidential immunity decision of the Supreme Court. As well the Republican Project 2025 blueprint that even Trump is trying to back away from because of actress Taraji P. Henson’s brilliant recommendation that people actually read its totalitarian designs.

President Biden might have been able to allay the concerns of those terrified after the June 27 debate. He could have said he understood why supporters were upset and that he had given some thought to their worry. He could have said he was open to hearing an argument that he shouldn’t run from Democratic leaders. He could have said he would take whatever medical and cognitive tests were needed to make people feel better.

He didn’t.

He believes he merely had a bad night. He had a cold. Trump was distracting him (that was kind of a lie, the camera showed Trump being quiet when Biden answered questions). He was exhausted from traveling overseas.

Again, I understand how hard this is for Joe Biden and his loyalists. He’s a good man and a great President. He believes he deserves a second term. If he was the Joe Biden of 2020, he’d be right.

But he’s 81 – he’ll be 82 just 15 days after the election – and would be 86 if he makes it to the end of a second term. (And yes, Trump isn’t that much younger.) Americans who worry if he’s up to it are not Nervous Nellies – they’re rightly concerned.

Joe Biden didn’t do anything to change that last night.