I feel sorry for Joe Biden. He has proved to be a competent President and is by all accounts a decent man. But age has caught up with him and even though a person of 80 or older theoretically should be able to govern well, even in a complex and difficult job such as the US Presidency, some 80 year olds have cognitive challenges that mean they are unlikely to be able to do the job. Decline happens at different rates in different people. The debate last week was a clear indicator that Biden is on the wrong side of the decline spectrum.

The stakes are very high. Most serious thinkers do not want a Trump second term. I don't necessarily buy the hype that Trump will push the US in a dictatorship, for he is not a very competent person and he has a big mouth that says things he often doesn't mean. He might well be more authoritarian in style but the US Constitution creates checks and balances on government. Trump himself is limited by the time he can serve (another 4 years) and the looming barrier of his own age.

The Democrats need to get to work quickly to find a good candidate and Mr Biden needs to do the right thing, as difficult as that is. He has a long and proud legacy which he risks sullying if he stays on and is defeated by the challenger, as all polls predict. 

This is not a question of who is the better man or the better President. Biden wins that hands down. But the clock is ticking for him, as it is for all of us.