John Cassidy: “Biden certainly wasn’t great. But his candidacy is posited on the theory that he doesn’t have to be a great debater. At this stage, his advisers know that they are unlikely to win over many progressive activists or dominate the highly educated demographic that has gravitated to Warren. Their strategy is to shore up Biden’s support among the rest of the Democratic alliance, including moderates, minorities, and whites who didn’t complete college. To this end, they are relying on his reputation as a centrist, his ties to Obama, and the good will he has built up over the years. Despite an uneven performance on Thursday night, Biden didn’t upend this strategy.”
“Arguably, his best moment came near the end, when all the candidates were asked about the most significant professional setbacks they had faced. Biden talked movingly about overcoming the death of his first wife and daughter in a car accident, and, more recently, of losing his eldest son, Beau, to cancer, by ‘finding purpose’ and staying engaged in public life. If he had left it there, it would have been a perfectly good response. But he went on to shift the discussion beyond himself. ‘There’s a lot of people been through a lot worse than I have, who get up every single morning, put their feet one foot in front of another, without the help I had,’ he said. ‘There are real heroes out there. Some real heroes.’ Earlier this week, my colleague Benjamin Wallace-Wells asked if Biden could remind Democrats what they liked about him. At least in this moment, he did.”
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