Peggy Noonan:

“From the moment he shuffled out with a soft and faltering gait, you could see how much he has declined. He was pale and waxy, and there was something almost furtive in his gaze. His voice was hoarse and feathery, with no projection. His answers were scrambled, halting. At some points he made no sense. At some points he seemed out of it.”

Nicholas Kristof:

“One of the perils facing this country, I believe and Biden believes, is the risk of a victory by Donald Trump. And after the debate, it’s hard to avoid the feeling that Biden remaining in the race increases the likelihood that Trump will move into the White House in January.”

Biden has been an extremely successful president and is universally well liked and deeply respected by those who know him best. I believe, if the election were held today, he would lose. And were he to prove me wrong, I believe he’d be way too diminished in a year, two, three, or four to have anywhere as successful a second term. Because biology is undefeated.

You need an example? This morning I ran around Capitol Lake, a scenic 5-mile loop with views of water, birds, and the State Capitol dome. The last mile is a 2% decline and today I decided to flip the turbo booster switch and see what kind of mile I could do downhill. At my athletic peak I had very average speed at best, by which I mean I’ve always been slow. But my consistency over decades resulted in above average endurance. Leading to decent performances. For example:

Less than seven years ago, 7:46/mile 26 times. As Adam Sandler sings in the Chanukah song, not too shabby. So, back to this morning’s time trial. Felt good. Movin’. Watch vibrates signaling the mile split. “Seven what?” I thought to myself. Glance down. 8:09.

I was planning on running the 10k in the (d)US Olympic Trials until The Good Wife and my close friends staged an intervention. They said I was jeopardizing my legacy as the Seattle Marathon age group winner and beloved figure of running fans near and far. And that the selfless thing to do would be to acknowledge my time in the running limelight has passed and to kindly step off the track before I lose badly to Grant Fisher and company.

Thank goodness for their objective tough love.