By Stephen Macaulay

Let’s ratchet back all the plaudits for Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race. It became absolutely clear that Joe Biden wasn’t up to the task during his “debate” with Donald Trump. That was June 27. It is now July 21.

As he might put it, “C’mon, man.”

There should be a certain level of annoyance with the man for dragging the inevitable out for as long as he did.

That could have negative consequences for the Democrats in November.

Will there be statements then along the lines of “If only we’d had a couple more weeks …”?

At this state it seems fait accompli that Kamala Harris will be the candidate. Biden has endorsed her.

Again, because of this delay, it very well may be that she’s the most convenient candidate. Not the best. Convenient.

Yes, Joe Biden did a good job as president. Yes, he deftly accomplished things that his predecessor only blew smoke about. Yes, the world is in a better place thanks to Biden’s support of Ukraine (it is frightening to think of the condition of that country were Trump in office: the inability of that man and his acolytes to recognize the fact that there is global interconnectedness that can’t be rolled back with tariffs and walls is pathetic).

But I can’t but think that in the past several months — there is plenty of reporting about how Biden had missed more than a step long before June 27 — Biden has developed a sense that he is the only one who should be president. 

A Trumpian attitude. 

Had that continued, what is a laudatory career of service would have been horribly besmirched.

But he has done the right thing.

Still, he is presenting Kamala Harris with a tremendous challenge.

If she fails in November, it won’t entirely be her fault, but it is likely that she will get the blame.

Too bad his mom or dad never told him, “Joey, you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.”

There would have been more time for the momentum that is going to be needed to take on the Trump-Vance ticket.