Thoughtful, probing, important piece on Biden's stutter and how it's influencing how he's perceived as a candidate this time around. Want to say a couple of things about it. theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
First, yeah, as the piece suggests, some of what's perceived as Biden stumbling cognitively is him stuttering. I called him out in that way in one of the early debates—I didn't know about the stutter, and someone pointed it out to me. I got it wrong.
Beyond that, there's a lot that's powerful and poignant in the piece regarding Biden's ... defensiveness? Bull-headedness? Shame? It's clear he's still reckoning with how to understand this stuff, how to understand himself.
And there's a blurry area with his public speaking, too. When a word seems to slip away from him, or he appears to struggle to land an idea—some of that may be stuttering, or compensation, or anxiety.
But that's not the whole story, of course. Last night, when he said Carol Moseley Braun was the country's only black woman senator, that wasn't a stutter, or a compensation. He misspoke, and he didn't realize he'd done it—insisted, in fact, seconds later, that he hadn't done it.
When he was asked about Me Too and drifted onto domestic violence, and then said we have to "keep punching at it and punching at it,” that wasn't a stutter or compensation. It was him losing his train of thought, and then failing to grasp how his phrasing would be perceived.
I've been watching Biden since he first ran for president in 1984. I've recently listened to speeches and debates of his from the 1970s and 2000s. He's changed. He's lost something.
If I'm right about that, it matters. It's important. It's relevant to this race. But that question makes it MORE important, not less, to distinguish between his stuttering issues and the other stuff.
And of course the last thing any of us want to do is to create a situation in which Biden's candidacy increases the shame and stigma that other stutterers experience, right?
Anyway, I'm real glad @JohnGHendy wrote that piece. It's very very good. It doesn't exonerate Biden on the concerns that are being raised about him, and doesn't intend to. But it raises issues that we should all be conscious of—issues that I, for one, need to learn more about.
Bumping this thread from last night. Important to reckon with the impact of Biden's stutter on his campaign persona, but also with its limits as an explanation of what's going on with him this time around.
